On the Run
by YLJedi
Summary: Johnny dies and Dally robs the store. But Dallas doesn't call Darry. Instead Dallas runs, and a family ends up taking him in. Can the family help Dally learn to trust and to care again? Or do some things just come too late? COMPLETE!
1. Intro

Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton created and owns Outsiders. This is just pure fun on my part.  
  
"No, Johnny, don't die. Don't die." Dally pleaded to the boy in the hospital bed, knowing it was already too late. But Johnny couldn't die. Not Johnny. Johnny Cade was the only thing Dally cared for. He was almost Dally's kid brother.  
  
Dallas Winston stared at the body of his friend. Looking at the still form, something snapped inside of him. Winston whirled out of his chair and smashed both his fists against the wall. He beat his fists and kicked the wall, letting all his rage loose. He couldn't be here. This couldn't be happening. It was too much. Dally ran out the door. He didn't know where he was going; he only knew he had to get out.  
  
Dallas drove for a long time, never pausing, never letting himself have time to think or feel. He only knew that he somehow ended up in a store, his gun pulled out and a man handing him a bag of money. Dal took the money and ran.  
  
He jumped into his car and sped off, spurred on by the thought of the police catching him. Dimly he thought about calling Darry and the gang to come help him, but something in Winston rebelled against that. This was his mess, not theirs.  
  
From far away, sirens could be heard. Dally jerked the steering wheel hard, turning the car on the road that led to the train tracks. The sound of sirens grew louder. Dallas had a lead; he could get to the train station first.  
  
But evidently the police knew where he was going. Either that or they were lucky enough to have a police car patrolling right next to the station. It came roaring toward Dally's car, sirens blaring. The police car swerved hard right and stopped, blocking the road from Dally.  
  
Dal veered the car off the road and sped through the grass. One of the policemen in the car opened his door, aimed his gun, and fired. He was going for a flat tire to stop Dally from getting away, but unfortunately he missed.  
  
Dallas heard the gunshot, and suddenly he remembered his own gun. He could end it right here, right now. Dallas turned sideways in his seat, still keeping one hand on the wheel, and raised his gun in the air.  
  
The policeman and his partner aimed their own guns at him, and the crackle of their guns pierced the night. Bullets whizzed by Dally's ears. One hit the windshield, busting half of the glass into shrapnel. Then Dallas felt something graze his side. The pain momentarily stunned him and he lost control of the vehicle. The car spun out of control, until finally coming to a stop.  
  
The police officers jumped back in their car, zooming to where Dally's car had stopped. Dal became aware of them, and adrenaline started pumping through him. Without even thinking he gunned the motor and pressed down on the pedal. His car shot off. The train was moving now. He sped away from the station heading farther down the tracks. He slammed on the brakes, jerked the door open, and leaped out. He had seen it: a box car not entirely closed.  
  
Dal ran as fast as his legs could go, reaching the box car. Thankfully, the train was just heading out and wasn't going too fast. Yet. Already as he reached for the handle of the door, he could feel the wheels churning even faster.  
  
He gave the door a hard shove and it moved a couple of inches. Dal shoved again, and again it moved a couple of inches. He took a deep breath and with all his muscles working he pushed against the door. It slid open almost a full quarter of the way.  
  
He looked over his shoulder. The police car had gained after Dallas had stopped the car. Now one of the officers had jumped out and was chasing him. He was only a couple of box cars away.  
  
The train was moving even faster now. Dal sprinted as fast and as hard as he could trying to stay even with the box car. He grabbed the handle with one hand and the side of the train with the other. He took a deep breath, jumped, and pulled himself in. The force of the pull slammed him into the floor, irritating his already injured side.  
  
Dallas leaned his head out and saw the police officer losing the battle with the train. The train was getting up to full speed now. The officer in the car appeared to be radioing for help as it picked up his partner. Dallas shut the door, and walked to the other side of the train.  
  
Well, he had done it. He had robbed a store, and now he had escaped custody. Where would he go now? The fuzz would be swarming the next stop. There was no way he would be able to escape them. Why hadn't they killed him when they had the chance?  
  
Dal leaned back against the wall. He was hurting and he was so tired. His side was bleeding from where the bullet had grazed him. He just wanted to get out. To forget everything that happened. But how could he forget? How could he forget his best friend lying still and lifeless in a cold, unfeeling hospital?  
  
He slowly slid down to the floor. Cold, unfeeling. That had been him. That had been Dallas until Johnny had come into his life. Johnny had made Dally care again. Before, in New York, he had seen people get killed, but he had never cared. But whenever he had seen Johnny being beat up, the anger would rise inside of him until it almost overwhelmed him. And he knew why, now. Johnny was his friend. His best friend.  
  
Blinking, Dal rubbed his temples. His head had been slammed into the wheel when the car had careened out of control. It hurt something fierce. The burns on his arm were aching, too. The burns he had gotten dragging Johnny out of the fire...  
  
Stupid Johnny! If he had left well enough alone, and not gone off trying to save those kids, he would still be alive. Stupid, stupid Johnny.  
  
"Johnny," Dally choked out. "Johnny," he mumbled again. His head was getting fuzzier, and a few minutes later he had drifted off to sleep.  
  
He awoke with a start. His instincts told him to leave before the fuzz had a chance to search the train for him. Making his way over to the door, he pulled it open. The ground was rushing by in a blur.  
  
"This is suicide," Dallas muttered to himself. At that moment he thought of Johnny in the hospital, and with eyes closed he whispered, "Good." Not pausing for another second, Dallas jumped out of the speeding train.  
  
He hit the ground and rolled, pain jarring him all the way. Finally he stopped and lay still, panting. Gingerly Dally started to get to his feet, but doubled over as his ribs throbbed in agony. Well, it wasn't exactly suicide; he was still alive.  
  
Maybe he should just wait here for the end. But there was no way Dallas Winston was going to die on the ground, whimpering like a little kid. He was tuff. Dallas forced himself to get up. If he was going to die, he was going to die on his own terms.  
  
Dallas walked and walked. When Dallas Winston got stubborn and set his mind to something, it was getting done no matter what. And it looked like this one was getting done. He had reached a town. He had been walking towards it for what seemed hours, and now that he was here he didn't have a clue what to do. All he knew was that he was in pain.  
  
He looked around, which was hard in itself considering everything he saw was surrounded by a haze of fog and that it was pitch black outside. Blackness and fog. Great.  
  
Wait! There was light over there! Where there was light, there was bound to be something useful. Maybe food. He hadn't eaten in so long. Dallas staggered to the shop with the lights. He opened the door, and a little chime sounded. He tried to look around, to find something, anything, to relieve the pain he was in, but the room started swaying. Everything went dark as the floor rushed up to meet him.

"He's so funny looking, Mama. Where'd he come from?"  
  
Dally was starting to come to, but he kept his eyes closed. His mind was hazy from sleep, but he knew something was wrong. He wasn't at the Curtis's. He wasn't at Buck's. Slowly memory started drifting in, confusing and a little hazy. But one thing stuck out more than all of the others.  
  
"Johnny!" Dallas sat bolt upright, eyes wide open. His brain barely acknowledged the fact that two other people were in the room with him, and both had jumped three feet in the air at his yell. His mind was still in the hospital room reliving his worst nightmare.  
  
The woman regained her composure first. "Well, it looks like you're awake. I'll go get Brian." And with that she left. The other person stayed. She was a little girl, no more than six or seven. She just stared at Dally with big, round eyes.  
  
The woman's words had brought Dally back to the present. He gazed around the room, noting he was in a small bedroom. To his right, was a night table with a lamp resting on it.  
  
Dallas finished his observations of the room then turned his eyes on the little girl. She was still staring at him, her mouth hanging open slightly. Dal was just about to tell her off for staring at him, but the door opened and the woman stepped in with a man behind her.  
  
"Good morning. And how are you feeling today?" The man asked with a smile.  
  
Dallas had tensed up after the adults had entered the room, and now he bit out harshly, "Who are you? And what am I doing here?"  
  
The man wasn't fazed for one second by Dally's harsh manner. He replied, "I'm Brian Matthews. This is my wife Lisa. And this little girl is my daughter Carly." Brian put his hand affectionately on Carly's shoulder.  
  
"As to what you are doing here, you showed up at my wife's store and collapsed in the doorway. She brought you to our house since the hospital is a long way away. I'm a doctor so I just fixed you up here."  
  
"Well, now that you've fixed me up, I'll be leaving." Dallas swung his legs over the bed and rose. He took two steps towards the door before he collapsed in pain. Brian rushed to his side.  
  
"You are in no condition to walk out of this house, young man," Brian reprimanded. He gently pulled Dally to his feet and set him on the bed. "You'll need to stay here for a couple of weeks. You have some broken ribs, a concussion, and that arm needs more time to heal."  
  
Dal barely heard him. He slowly pulled his legs up on the bed, pain washing over him. He just wanted to get out of this place. But the pain wouldn't let him take even three steps. I guess I'm stuck here, Dally thought in annoyance.  
  
He looked up as a glass of water was put in front of his face. Lisa was standing over him holding up 2 pills. "It'll help with the pain."  
  
Dal had to laugh. "No way. You really think aspirin can help me with the pain I'm feeling?"  
  
"It's not aspirin. It's a more powerful type of pain reliever; I can't remember the fancy name for it. But if you're afraid to take a couple of pills, I can easily get Brian to give you a shot. Which arm do you want it in?" Dal rolled his eyes showing he didn't care, but he took the glass of water and gulped down the pills. Lisa smirked.  
  
Brian laughed. "By the way, kid, we've told you who we are. Who're you?"  
  
Dallas paused. Maybe they had heard something about him. They could turn him in. He had robbed a store. Who knows how many years he could get for that? But then, with Johnny gone, who cares?  
  
"I'm Dallas Winston."  
  
"Okay, Dallas, I need your parents' phone number so I can call them and let them know you're okay."  
  
He drew a sharp breath and stiffened. "No."  
  
"No, what?"  
  
"No, I won't tell you their number."  
  
Brian looked taken aback by Dallas's statement. He searched for words then asked, "Why won't you?"  
  
"I don't want to."  
  
The man was clearly surprised by Dallas's replies. He tried again. "Could you tell me their address?"  
  
"No," Dal said sharply. He was sick of this talk about his parents. It's not like they would care anyway.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I said no, all right! You got a problem with that you can just boot me right out the door. Now leave me alone!" He was yelling now, which was unusual. He used to have more control.  
  
"All right, all right. We'll let you get some rest, you're probably not thinking straight because of the concussion." Brian put his hands up in surrender, then he and Lisa left the room. Brian called to his daughter on the way out, "Come on Carly."  
  
Carly didn't move a muscle. She just stared at Dallas, fascinated. Dal tried to ignore her by closing his eyes and resting his head against the headboard. But after a couple of minutes, Dally couldn't stand it anymore.  
  
"What?" he snapped at the girl. The girl blinked looking startled. Then she started giggling. Dal rolled his eyes. "What's your problem?"  
  
"Your name is so funny." Carly giggled again. "Why would someone be named after a city?"  
  
Dallas rolled his eyes and sighed. "Just get out of here, kid." When Carly didn't go he pointed to the door and yelled, "Move!" Carly jumped, and ran out the room crying for her mother.  
  
Well, no one had recognized his name. At least not yet. Even if they did call the cops on him, Dallas still had Two-Bit's switchblade. Dal slipped his hand in his back pocket and pulled the blade out. He knew how to use a switchblade.  
  
Two-Bit. How long would it be until he saw Two-Bit or any of the gang again? The guy said at least a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks with a stranger, his wife, and to top it all off, a stupid little kid.  
  
"I hate kids," Dal muttered out loud. But maybe he'd survive. Maybe he'd survive long enough to get well and go back home. But if he didn't, and the cops did come, he knew how to use a switchblade.  
  
And he would use it.  
  
On himself. 


	2. Chapter 2

When Dal woke up it was afternoon. Nobody was in the room with him. He sat up, but that proved to be a mistake. His head exploded into fireworks of pain. He lay back with a groan, throwing an arm across his eyes.  
  
The door opened and a voice sounded from the door way, "Hey, you're aw- are you okay?" Footsteps rushed to his side, and he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Here, take some more pills," the voice said with concern. Pills were placed in his hand, and Dal plopped them in his mouth. Next a glass of water was put in his hand, and he gulped the pills down with the water.  
  
He didn't move from his position for a while. Only when the pain had lessened somewhat did he feel safe enough to take his arm down and open his eyes.  
  
The outline of a man was standing next to the bed. The figure shifted, but the lights were still blinding Dallas, making the man only a blurred image.  
  
The figure spoke: "You okay, man? Take it easy; eyes are really sensitive after a concussion."  
  
Dal's eyes slowly adjusted to the light, and he could finally see the man standing next to him. He had expected it to be the father of the house, whatever-his-name-was, but it wasn't. The man looked to be his own age, or perhaps Soda's.  
  
Suddenly defensive, Dal sat up and slouched against the headboard. His ice blue eyes drilled into the stranger. Cool. Tuff.  
  
"Who the he-"  
  
"I'm Jason Mathews," the kid broke in. "I'll be here if you need anything. The rest of the family's out." Jason reached out for a chair, dragged it closer, then straddled it backwards gazing thoughtfully at the injured teen.  
  
"So, how'd all this happen to you?"  
  
"What business is it of yours?" Dally shot back.  
  
Jason shrugged. "Well, since my family is the one that took you in and patched you up I just thought we had the right to hear some details."  
  
"Well, you thought wrong."  
  
Mathews raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. He rested his arms on the back of the chair. He stared at Dallas, who was staring in turn at the ceiling. He decided on a different approach.  
  
"Dad says you won't let him call your parents."  
  
Dal stayed silent.  
  
"Why don't you want them to know you're okay?"  
  
He took a deep breath, clenching his teeth. Control Dallas, control, he thought.  
  
"I just don't."  
  
Jason knew not to push it. "Hey man, I won't make you tell me. But you can be sure that my dad will pester you until you finally give it up and tell him."  
  
"I'll keep that in mind."  
  
And that was the end of their conversation. Jason tried to get Dallas to talk several more times, but Dal rebuffed every attempt. Finally, Jason gave up, took out a deck of cards and began playing solitaire, after Dallas refused to play.  
  
Dal liked to play cards, but he wasn't going to try to be friends with this creep. He just stared into space. He refused to let his thoughts wander to Johnny or any of the gang. But inevitably they always came back to one of them, and that made him angry.  
  
He forced himself to just think about how to survive this place and go back. Why he wanted to he didn't know. Maybe he just wanted to be able to return Two-Bit's switchblade. Two-Bit did love his switchblade. Yeah, that was it. It had to be it.

* * *

"Hey you two, dinner's ready," Lisa called from the doorway. She had started working on dinner the moment she got home, and the aromas had been tormenting the boys for hours. "Dallas, I bet you're sick of this room. If you think you can make it we have a place set for you."  
  
"I can make it," Dal snapped back. He got up and trekked slowly across the floor. Jaw clenched, he followed Jason and his mom to the dining room. Entering he stopped in amazement. The room was unbelievable!  
  
It probably wasn't a socs dining room, but it definitely wasn't a greasers'. It had a beautiful oval table, with matching chairs. The silverware was pristine and perfect and there was lots of it. It was unbelievable in the eyes of a greaser. But then, Dal saw something that broke him out of his trance. Food.  
  
He moved forward and sat in the seat Brian gestured for him to sit in. It was to the left of Jason, with Carly opposite him, and the parents at both ends. Dal reached his hand out to grab a roll, but Jason quickly spoke.  
  
"Carly, why don't you say grace tonight?"  
  
Dallas froze. But thankfully, no one but Jason had seen him reaching for the food. He lazily withdrew his hand, then quirked an eyebrow at Carly.  
  
"Okay, Jace." The family all bowed their heads, and Carly gave a simple, sweet, and short blessing. Dal sat there watching them, a cynical smirk on his face.  
  
The prayer over, everybody started reaching for the food. There was a general hubbub, as everyone piled their plates with the food, then passed it on to someone else. Dallas didn't even try to conceal his hunger; he grabbed liberal amounts of everything.  
  
A few minutes were passed in silence as everyone dug into their food. Then Brian finally broke the silence.  
  
"Dallas, you know what I'm going to say. I need your parents' phone number so I can call and tell them you're okay."  
  
Dally twirled his fork, not answering. Here we go. But once again, Jason saved him.  
  
"So Mom, what time does Lori want me to pick her up?"  
  
"She said she would be ready at 7 in the morning. That means you will probably need to leave at 5:00."  
  
Jace nodded. Then, seeing Brian about to speak again, he proceeded to explain to Dally. "Lori's my sister. College let out a few days ago, so she's coming home to stay with us for a while."  
  
"Another sister? How many people you got in this family?" Dal questioned sarcastically.  
  
"Relax, Lori's the last one."  
  
Carly was excited about her sister coming. "You be sure she has something for me, Jace. She promised me she would. It's my birthday in a few days, Dallas." She turned her eyes on Dallas, who was still gobbling up everything in sight.  
  
When he didn't respond to her statement she said again, "It's my birthday in a few days. I'm gonna be eight." She held up eight fingers happily. "What you gonna get me?"  
  
He looked up at her then, perplexed. "Why, nothin'," he snorted.  
  
"Nothing?" Carly's mouth turned down in a frown.  
  
"Carly he just met you, he doesn't need to get you a present," her mother said sharply.  
  
"Yes, Mom," the little girl grumbled.  
  
Jason grinned at her. "I'll make sure Lori brings something for you."  
  
Carly smiled at this. She leaned across the table, grabbed a roll, and shoved it into her mouth.  
  
Dal watched her before glancing at Jason. Jace caught the look and shrugged. "Kids," he whispered. Dallas nodded his head in agreement. 

* * *

"All right everybody into the living room." Lisa got up and started clearing the table. Brian started to help her, but before he did he turned to Dallas, who was getting out of his chair.  
  
"Get up easy, Dallas. If you do it too fast or too sharply your ribs could mess up some more. And even if they don't mess up, you'll get a lot of pain."  
  
Dally took the advice and got up slowly, then went with Jason and Carly into the living room. They sat down on the couch, Carly in between the boys. As soon as they sat down Carly started pleading.  
  
"Let me choose this time. Please, please, please, I'll pick a good one this time! I promise!" She turned on the charm, using her smile and her cute face to her advantage. But Jason wasn't falling for it.  
  
"Nope. It's my turn tonight, and you won't dupe me into giving it to you."  
  
Brian came just in time to hear his statement, and he joined in the argument. "Come on, Jason, give it to your sister. Her birthday is almost here. This can be one of your presents."  
  
"Fine. But I get your next turn Dad." Jason handed the remote over to Carly who squealed with delight. She started flipping through channels until she found the one she wanted.  
  
"No, not Mickey Mouse again," Jason groaned.  
  
The little girl giggled. "Yep. Mickey."  
  
Dallas hadn't been listening to the conversation, but when he heard the show they were watching, he flinched. Not Mickey Mouse. The gang loved Mickey Mouse.  
  
He couldn't take this. He had to stop thinking about the gang. If he didn't he would go crazy. But he couldn't figure out why. Why did get so emotional whenever he thought of the gang? It was something he couldn't figure out. No, that wasn't true. He could figure it out. He just didn't want to.  
  
Because his feelings to the gang came too close to what he had felt towards Johnny. He had cared for Johnny, cared for him like a brother, and it had only ended up hurting both of them. Johnny was dead, and Dally was left with this empty feeling inside. He didn't need it or want it. He told himself he didn't care about the gang, that they were just good people to have around when you needed them. He couldn't allow himself to think of them as friends. Friends only hurt you in the end. Johnny had proved that.  
  
"No!" Dallas jerked himself off the couch, startling the family. "I don't want to watch Mickey. I don't want to watch-" he cut off as an intense wave of pain slammed into him. He fell down on his knees, clutching his side. Brian was there in an instant.  
  
"I told you to get up easy!" He put a hand next to Dallas's ribs and the boy gasped in pain. "Jason, help me get him to his room."  
  
Jason slung one of Dallas's arms across his shoulders. Brian copied on the other side. Then together they helped him walk to his bedroom and placed him gently on the bed. Brian checked him over, trying to be careful, but still causing Dally some more pain. After some agonizing minutes for Dallas, Brian finished his examination.  
  
"Well, it doesn't look like they were messed up that much. But it might take just a little longer for those ribs to heal. I guess you want some more pain relievers?" At Dallas's glare, Brian stopped his joking and went to get the pills.  
  
When he got back he asked, "How many of these pills have you taken?"  
  
Jason told him. "The two you gave him, and then I gave him two when he woke up."  
  
"Okay, that's all right. Well, on the other hand," Brian's eyes held a mischievous gleam in them, "I don't think you should have any more."  
  
Dal groaned. "Come on man," he gasped out.  
  
"Do you really need them, Dallas?" Brian questioned him.  
  
"Yes!" he yelled at the man.  
  
"Dallas, I need to call your parents. Give me their number."  
  
He stared at Brian, searching for words. "Come on. First off, it's only my old man, and he wouldn't care one bit if you called him. Give me the pills."  
  
"Not unless I get his number."  
  
Jason stared at him incredulously. "Dad, that's blackmail," he whispered.  
  
"So it is."  
  
Dal groaned again. Thoughts raced through his mind. Finally he settled on one plan of action. "All right, I'll make a deal with you."  
  
The older man pursed his lips. "I'm listening," he replied.  
  
"Okay, I'll give you the number for my old man. But you can't tell him where I am. Just tell him I'm okay, and I'll probably be coming home soon. Got a deal?"  
  
Brian hesitated for a moment then, "We got a deal." He wrote down the number Dallas gave him and the name of the old man. After that, he handed over the pills and watched Dally swallow them down.  
  
When the kid appeared a little calmer he left saying, "Well, I'll be going. No more sudden movements, you hear me?"  
  
Jason watched Dallas skeptically. "I can't believe you gave in so easily. I thought you would've have resisted a whole lot more."  
  
"Do me a favor, man," When Jason nodded, Dallas continued, "Don't act like you know me, 'cause you don't. Not one bit. Got it?"  
  
Jace took a deep breath then responded slowly, "Yeah, I got it. Sorry I bothered you." He turned and walked out of the room. "Get a good night's sleep, Dallas." He flicked off the lights and Dally was left in total darkness. 

* * *

Scarlett7- I'm glad you like the train scene. I couldn't have done it without you. Your helpful words have made this story even better. Thanks for all your help.  
  
Miyame-Faith- I'm flattered that you think I've captured Dallas's personality. That is what I've tried to do; stay as close to the book as possible (except of course for Dally not getting killed). ( Thanks for reviewing.  
  
steves-girl- Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad you like it. Hopefully, you will still like it as the story progresses. Please keep reviewing. I love 'em!  
  
Tensleep- Wow! You are very kind. I'm thrilled you like it so much. I just looked at your favorite stories and I found I'm on there! Thank you so much, that means so much to me! Thanks for reviewing and I hope I don't disappoint you.  
  
CinderBrat- Don't worry, I won't abandon it. I will stick with it until it's done. Sooner or later, this story is getting done. Don't know when that will be, but just sit back, and I'll try to dish out some chapters for you. Thanks for reviewing. These reviews mean a lot to me.  
  
Hope you liked it. Please read and review, people. I love reading them. They make my day! 


	3. Chapter 3

Darrel walked out of his room, still rubbing his hair with a towel. Making his way to the kitchen he got out the cake and eggs. He was just fixing breakfast when the phone rang.  
  
He wiped his hands on his jeans. "Hello?" he said as he picked it up.  
  
"Hello. Is this Mr. Darrel Winston?"  
  
Perplexed, Darry said, "Excuse me? Who are you looking for?"  
  
"I'm looking for a Mr. Darrel Winston. Is this the right number?"  
  
_Darrel Winston? What kind of a prank call is this?_ Darry was about to tell the prankster off when it suddenly hit him.  
  
Dallas! He automatically deepened his voice. "This is Mr. Winston. Can I help you?"  
  
"Yes, I'm calling about your son, Dallas." Darry held his breath as the man continued, "He showed up at our house a couple of days ago hurt. He's doing fine, don't worry. He has some broken ribs and a couple of other injuries, but he should recover fully."  
  
Darry blew out his breath. "Oh, good. But you're sure he is going to be fine?"  
  
"Oh, yes, quite sure. He's already itching to go, but he does need to wait a couple of weeks until I'm sure he's recovered."  
  
"Where did you say you lived, sir?"  
  
There was a slight hesitation at the other end. "Ah, well, Dallas doesn't want me to tell you where he is. He didn't seem too happy that I was calling you. In fact, I had to haggle with him until he finally gave me your number."  
  
_That's Dally for you._ Darry smiled. "Well, thank you, sir. I know you'll take good care of him. Will you keep me updated on how he's doing? You said it'll only be for a couple of weeks, but I really would like to know."  
  
"Oh, yes. Of course I'll do that for you."  
  
"Could you tell him something for me?" After the man's confirmation he continued, "Tell him that his 'dad' misses him. And that he has friends that love him and that need him to come back."  
  
"I'll do that. Don't worry. He's going to be fine."  
  
Darrel said the necessary pleasantries before his goodbye, but afterwards he just stood there holding the phone. He finally remembered to hang up, and slowly walked back to the kitchen. _Dallas, alive?_ he thought dazedly.  
  
Soda came in, got a knife and cut himself a big slice of cake. He automatically began defending himself from Darry. "I've got a big day ahead of me, I need lots of nutrition." He stopped suddenly, looking at his brother concernedly. "Are you all right?"  
  
Darry didn't move for a second. Soda put a hand out to check his temperature when Darry suddenly looked up and raised his fists in the air.  
  
"Wahoo!"  
  
.................  
  
"I win!"  
  
Carly and Dallas were in the living room. Lisa and Brian had come in earlier that morning and half-dragged Dallas out of the bedroom. They had put him on the couch and left him with Carly.  
  
He had tried ignoring her at first, but she just got noisier and noisier until he had to pay attention to her to get some quiet. Just now they were playing checkers, which was better than listening to Carly going on about her birthday. But she had just beaten him for the fifth time that day.  
  
"I'll get you this next game," Dal warned her. He usually hated checkers, and he definitely hated playing it with little kids, but his competitive spirit was out. No one was going to beat him. It was like the rodeo days. No one was going to beat him in the rodeo, and no one was going to beat him in checkers.  
  
They set the next game up, and Dallas made the first move. She countered, and they were soon lost in the game.  
  
"Hey, we're home!" A voice called from the front door.  
  
"It's Lori, it's Lori!" Carly jumped up and in her excitement hit the board causing all the pieces to fly across the room.  
  
Dal threw up his hands in exasperation. "Yeah, do that when I'm winning."  
  
Carly ran to the door and threw herself into the wide-open arms of her sister. "Hey squirt," Lori greeted Carly.  
  
The little girl looked up at her sister. "Did you bring me anything?"  
  
Lori laughed and shook her head. "You'll have to wait until it's actually your birthday to find out."  
  
"Aww, come on Lori," Carly wheedled.  
  
"Nope," she said, ruffling her sister's hair as she passed. She hugged her mother, who had come out of the study.  
  
"Where's Dad?" she asked.  
  
Lisa wrapped an arm around her daughter. "Oh, he's got some more work at the hospital. He'll be home this afternoon, though."  
  
Jason walked into the living room and dropped the suitcases he was carrying. He gave a strange look at Dallas, who had stretched himself out on the sofa.  
  
When the girl trio walked in, Jason stepped forward to introduce Lori. "Dallas, this is my sister, Lori. Lori, this is our guest Dallas Winston."  
  
Lori extended her hand and smiled. "How do you do, Dallas?"  
  
Dal tilted his head to one side, and stared at her for a second. He then gave a curt nod and turned away.  
  
Lori's smile faltered for an instant but reappeared a second later. She put down her hand and said brightly, "Well, I need to get this luggage into my room. Carly come on and help me."  
  
Carly ran and picked up a suitcase and dragged it across the floor. Lisa and Lori picked up the rest of the stuff and followed Carly.  
  
Jason began to go after the girls but paused. He glared over at Dallas, leaned over the couch and hissed, "Can't you even try to be nice? Or is that too hard for you?" He whirled around and followed the girls out, leaving Dallas alone in the room.  
  
Dal didn't move for a second, staring straight ahead, his eyes burning in anger. After a while he bent down and picked up the rest of the checkers and began to put them in their proper places. He picked up a red checker, scowled at it, then threw it across the room hitting the wall.  
  
He was mad at everything today. He got up from the couch and left to go to his room.  
  
"Oh, no Dallas Winston," Lisa said from the hallway. She grabbed his arm and turned him around. "You are going to play with my kids today. I won't have you going back in that room all by yourself."  
  
Dal rounded on her, his face full of indignation. "Excuse me, woman, who do you think you're ordering around?"  
  
Jason, Lori, and Carly had followed behind their mother. Now they came and sat on the floor, not wanting to miss the showdown between their mother and Dallas.  
  
Lisa took a step away from Dallas, but still smiled. "I'm going to the store. I took the day off because Lori was home, but I'll feel better if I know things are running smoothly. But I should have asked instead of ordering you. So Dallas, would you please play with my kids until I get back?"  
  
"No," Dal snorted.  
  
Carly let slip a giggle. Lisa glared daggers at her.  
  
She scratched her forehead in thought, then stepped close to Dallas. Her head was only a few inches away, and she whispered to him, "Okay, Dallas, I need you. See, Jason isn't that great of a babysitter, Lori just got back, and I'm afraid she'll probably allow Carly to do whatever she wants because she missed her so much."  
  
When Dal remained silent she pressed on. "Okay, Dallas? Will you do this for me? And I promise you can have some time to yourself later today. All right?"  
  
Dallas heaved a resentful sigh and said reluctantly, "Fine."  
  
"Good." Lisa smiled and turned to her kids. "You three be nice. I don't want Dallas to give me a bad report."  
  
She went and got her purse, then came back to talk to Dallas again. "Now I know my kids can be handfuls," here Carly stuck out her tongue, "but please do your best to entertain them so they won't get out of line." She smiled, and walked out of the house.  
  
Dallas looked at the three. "So I'm going to be your entertainment, huh?"  
  
Lori smiled and got out a deck of cards. "We're going to be each other's entertainment. Okay, what do you want to play?" she asked as she shuffled the deck.  
  
"Go fish," Carly quickly supplied.  
  
"Dallas?" Lori threw the question at him.  
  
"I'm not gonna play."  
  
"Come on, Winston. It's cards." Jason said impatiently.  
  
Dal shifted his glare over to Jason. Jason stared right back. Lori looked between the two boys uneasily. Then she brightened and cheerfully began dealing the cards, leaving Dallas out.  
  
"All right, Dallas. You can watch us play then. That way we'll sort of be your entertainment."  
  
"Fine by me," he replied.  
  
Jason stared at him for a second longer, then nodded. He picked up his cards and the trio began the game.  
  
Dal leaned back against the couch. He was soon forgotten by the players as they lost themselves in the game. As they played they teased each other, almost like the gang. The gang had played cards with each other, and there had never been a day when they hadn't teased each other over something. _Aw, man do I miss them.  
_  
He inhaled sharply. Had he just thought that? He, Dallas Winston, had actually admitted to missing somebody? Not possible! But he had, and it was true. He missed the gang so much there was a pain in his chest. This was bad. He had already refused to consider them friends, and now he found out he was missing them, like they were all he had in the world. But wait, they were. He couldn't deny that. Even when Johnny was alive, he had been a part of the gang. The gang had become his family. As close of a family as the family sitting right before him.  
  
What was the gang doing now? They had to be devastated at Johnny's death, and he wasn't helping ease their worries any. Well, he _had_ tricked Brian into calling Darry instead of his old man. That way at least they knew he was alive. _I hope whoever answered the phone understood what I was doing._ But the gang was smart; they could figure it out.  
  
A cry from the table drew his attention back to the card game. He viewed them silently for a few minutes. This family had taken him in. Given him an unknowing haven until he got well. And then after he was healed and Brian allowed him to leave, Dal finally figured out what he was going to do. He was going back to the gang. Back to his family. A small smile tugged at the corners of Dally's mouth.  
  
"Ya got an ace?" Jason asked slyly. When Carly reluctantly gave it to him, he laughed gleefully.  
  
Dal watched them as they played the game. It sparked memories. He remembered a time when he had gone over to the Curtis house after getting out of jail. The whole gang had been there, some watching TV and others playing poker.  
  
When he came in, Steve had looked up from his game and said slyly, "You took your sweet time getting here. The fuzz let you out ages ago. How many people d'ya jump on the way over?" Dal had responded with a remark of his own, and so the teasing began. The banter flew across the room, and even Johnny had joined in. But in the end, Dal had gotten back at Steve by joining in the poker game, and winning almost three quarters of Steve's money away from him.  
  
But the money wasn't what had made the memory stick out. It was that Johnny had joined in. He had laughed at the banter and had added some comments of his own. It was those comments that had made the gang keep going on with the teasing. Johnny laughed very rarely and when it did happen, they wanted to make it last as long as possible. Dallas had to remember to get something for Johnny before-  
  
Dal caught himself before the thought went any farther. _Johnny's dead,_ he berated himself. _Stop thinking like he's going to be there when you turn around. He isn't! He isn't!_ Dallas angrily choked back a sob. It went unnoticed by the three players.  
  
No, Johnny wouldn't be there when he turned around, tagging after him like he used to. He wouldn't be there when Dal got back to the gang. If Johnny wasn't there, what was the point of going back to the gang? He couldn't remember his reasoning from just a few minutes before. Why would he want to go back when Johnny wasn't there? Why did he even want to keep on living? He missed Johnny so much!  
  
The front door opened, and Lisa came through. "Hi, sorry I took so long. It seems they can't do very much while I'm gone." She went into the study.  
  
Dallas instinctively shook himself out of his thoughts. He couldn't think about this right now. He had to keep up his charade with this family or they would find out about him. Right now wasn't the time to think about Johnny or the gang. He made a tremendous effort and pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind.  
  
Lori gathered up the cards. "Well, that's it for me. I need to unpack. Wanna help me, squirt?" After Carly's eager nod, the two girls got up and went into Lori's bedroom.  
  
Jason was about to get up too, when he saw Dallas's expression. His face had a serious look about it and he was biting one of his lips.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" Jace asked lightly; he seemed to have gotten over his earlier anger at Dallas.  
  
Quickly the mask was back in place. "Nuthin," Dal said scornfully. He got up and walked towards his room again. And again, Lisa ran into him. She seemed nervous, and she whirled past him and dashed into the kitchen.  
  
"Mom sure seems in a hurry," Jason remarked as he walked down the hall to Lori's room.  
  
Dal didn't reply. He just stared quizzically in Lisa's direction. Instincts were telling him something was wrong. As he stood there, he heard Lisa speaking on the phone to somebody. He inched closer to the kitchen, glancing behind him to make sure no one was around. Lisa's voice came again.  
  
"You have to come as soon as you can. I believe it's an emergency." A pause, and then, "All right, thanks."  
  
He heard the click of the phone and Lisa's footsteps, but he was already moving to his room. He quickly entered and closed the door. Leaning against it, his thoughts raced. The cops. She had to have been calling the cops. What else could the emergency have been? She thought her family was in danger because an escaped criminal was under her roof.  
  
What was he going to do? He had to get away. But he didn't even know where he was. Where would he go if he ran? No, he couldn't run. Here was the chance he had been waiting for. He reached into his back pocket.  
  
Well, he wouldn't get to see the gang again. That was his only real regret. His life hadn't been that great anyway. _The world would probably be better off,_ he thought. Yes, he knew it would be. A shadow of a smile crossed his face as he pulled the switchblade out.  
  
Minutes passed, and still he stood holding the handle of the blade. What was the matter? Just a couple of days ago he had been yearning for this chance. He had tried to get the cops to shoot him, he had tried jumping off the train, and now here was his chance. _Come on! Johnny's dead, there's no reason for you to stay alive!  
_  
The doorbell rang. "They're here," Jason's voice yelled. Voices were heard outside the door. Footsteps sounded across the floor and stopped in front of Dallas's door.  
  
This was it. Dallas steeled himself for what was coming. There was no way he was going to jail. He had known that from the start. Jail he loathed, and he wasn't going back. He missed the gang, and he wanted so much to see them again, but he wasn't going to jail. Maybe if Johnny had been alive, things would've been different. Maybe he would have stuck it out, but Johnny was gone. There was nothing holding him back now.  
  
He walked a few feet then wheeled to face the door. The knob turned; the door opened. Dallas flicked out his blade...

* * *

That's it for this chapter, folks. Next chapter will be a little longer in coming. A family emergence has popped up, and it looks like I'll be gone from Wednesday to Saturday. I'll work on the next chap while I'm gone, though. And if you review, when I get back I might hurry to finish it up and post it. There's blackmail for you.  
  
steves-girl- The first person to review, I'm so happy! I'm glad you like it and that you take the time to review, so I know people are actually reading this.  
  
CinderBrat- Thank you! You might think it's weird about Mickey Mouse, but Dallas is confused and upset right now. Anything that reminds him too much of the gang or Johnny freaks him out. He's in too much pain to handle his emotions. And about Jason, well, you'll have to wait and see. Thanks again for the review!  
  
Tensleep- Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. You make my day with your reviews! Yes, I love the dally-hates-all-little-kids trait too. And I'm glad that you think I did a good job with Dallas and his feelings. By the way, what is 'see ya in the funny papers'? Is it your motto, or just a favorite saying of yours? I like it though, it's cool. Thank you so much for your kind words! They mean so much!  
  
And I need to give Scarlett7 a big huge thank you. This chapter wouldn't have come about if she hadn't been there. She really helped me to fix it and gave me really helpful advice. I'm still not completely satisfied with the chap, but it's better than it was before Scarlett7 saw it! So thank you, Scarlett7!  
  
All right, people, I need your reviews! I love hearing from y'all! 


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

The door swung open. Dallas swung the blade toward his throat. He felt the sharp blade touch his skin...  
  
**"No!"  
**  
Something slammed into his side and he fell to the floor with a groan. Automatically he reached out and shoved whatever was on top of him.  
  
The figure fell back, but came at him again a moment later. He wrestled with Dal, trying to get the knife out of his hand. Dallas slugged him, but the guy hung on. They rolled over and over on the floor, kicking and punching. The figure reared back and slugged Dallas on the jaw. It momentarily stunned him, and the guy had time to wrestle the knife out of Dal's hand.  
  
The figure stepped off of him, and Dal just lay there, gasping for breath. He finally focused in on the figure, and he groaned. Rolling over he made his way to his knees, his ribs throbbing in pain. After a while he got up the courage to look up at the figure sitting on the bed.  
  
Jason stared at Dallas. Then he glanced at the blade in his own hand. There was a painfully long silence until Dal finally broke it.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
Jason remained silent, flicking his gaze between the blade and Dallas, who looked back down at the floor. At last he said softly, "Mom just called some guys from her work. That's all."  
  
The greaser looked up sharply and his hand trembled an instant before he stilled it. He considered what Jason had said. _Lisa didn't call the cops. They don't know I'm a criminal. But then, how did he know this was because of Lisa calling somebody?  
_  
"Guys from work?" he questioned angrily as he sat down on the bed.  
  
Jason gave a weak smile. "Yeah, Mom saw some problems at the store, and when she came home and started working in the study something must've got screwed up big because she was in a panic."  
  
The door opened again. Dal stood up abruptly. Jason hurriedly shut the blade and put it in his back pocket. Lisa was in the doorway.  
  
"What is going on here?" she demanded, gazing over the two bruised and tired boys. Both remained silent.  
  
Jason studied Dal, then said, "Nothing, Mom," over his shoulder. "Dallas just tripped and I was helping him up."  
  
Dal examined the boy sitting next to him. Jason's expression was neutral, but his blue eyes held a mischievous glint in them. _He's giving me an opportunity to escape!_ He didn't know why Jason was doing it, but he was going to go along with it.  
  
"What?! You tripped me up on purpose. So I punched you in the gut." he retorted scathingly.  
  
Jason grinned at his reply, and Dallas found himself giving a shaky smile in return. He couldn't figure this guy out. Once again, he had saved Dallas from having to answer any questions. Why?  
  
Lisa crossed her arms, studying the pair. "Tell me what really happened."  
  
"Mom, I told you, nothing. Dal tripped and he thought I had something to do with it so he punched me. We got in a scuffle and then we came to our senses. That's all."  
  
Lisa stared at them disbelievingly. But then she just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I don't have time to worry about you two, so you better be telling the truth." Neither boy said anything. "Well then, I'm going back and work with the guys. No more scuffles, hear me?" She left the room closing the door behind her.  
  
Silence filled the room. Both didn't know what to say and the tension built up. Finally Dally broke it as he asked, "What'd you come in for?"  
  
Jason stood up. "Well, Mom wanted everyone to stay out of the way for a while, and I sure didn't want to help Lori unpack," he made a face, "so I thought you might like to get out of this house and take a walk around the neighborhood."  
  
Dal ran a hand through his hair as he slowly nodded. A he made his way to his feet, he felt his knees tremble a bit. He was shaking from the experience. Jason pretended not to notice.  
  
He had expected to feel disappointment that he hadn't been able to kill himself, but what he felt was not that. When he had seen that it was Jason and not the cops there had been a flash of something before he had quickly buried it. Relief.  
  
Relief? Why wasn't he angry? Shouldn't he be angry? _Guess some part of me actually wants to stay alive._ He knew which part, too. The part that missed the gang and wanted more than anything to see them again was happy that it was Jason. But the part that couldn't take life without Johnny was disappointed at the missed opportunity.  
  
Dally shook himself out of his thoughts. He had missed his chance, too bad, but it was time to get back to business. And right now, his business was to keep his charade up with this family. Though how well it was working against them, who could tell?  
  
Collecting himself together with the mask in place, he followed the taller boy out of the house. As he walked down the front steps he happened to glance at the house. The beauty of the red bricks and the white-fenced porch made him shake his head in disbelief. Still shaking his head, he caught up with Jason.  
  
"Y'all sure must be rich to afford that house."  
  
Jason looked up at his house then shook his head. "No, we're not rich. Just... well-to-do."  
  
Dal rolled his eyes. "Well, well-to-do in my book is just a fancy word for rich." He spit the word out as if it was something disgusting he had to get out quickly.  
  
Mathews gave him a sideways glance. "You got a vendetta against rich people?"  
  
Dal looked at him in puzzlement. "Vendetta?" he questioned.  
  
"Vendetta..." the dark blonde raked a hand through his hair, trying to find words, "uh... a quarrel, a feud."  
  
"Oh. Well, you could say that." Dal's mind flashed back to Johnny, held in Soda's arms, his entire body covered in blood and bruises, and the glaring cuts on his face. His fists clenched as his body tensed.  
  
"They lord it over all of us. They have it so easy, yet they still have to complain about every little thing that messes up their perfect little lives. They've got so much money it's disgusting." _They're the reason Johnny's dead. They're the reason I'm stuck with this family and trying to find a way to kill myself.  
_  
Dal thought for a couple of minutes. Then he said quietly, almost to himself, "The middle probably has it easiest. They don't have to worry about what class they're in. They don't have to worry about being beat up... or having their friends beat up." His voice quivered for a moment, but he controlled it and went on, "Then they also don't have to worry about keeping up their _stupid_ reputation as the rich kid. They don't have to go around showing off how much better they have it than you." His voice grew bitter.  
  
Jason watched him silently. Dallas didn't know it, but he was letting more of himself show at that moment than he would have ever wanted anyone to see in a lifetime. Jason's dark blue eyes took in the kid before him. But instead of commenting on what he saw, he tried to lighten the mood.  
  
"Well, that's perfect for me then. See we really aren't rich. We're just plain middle class." He grinned.  
  
The greaser gave a small smile in return. They walked on in silence, past several more houses that were also middle class. It was a pretty day, sun out with only a couple of clouds and a nice breeze to keep them from getting hot.  
  
It had only been about fifteen minutes, but Dallas was tiring, and Jason saw it. "Come on, let's get back." They turned and headed back to the house. Halfway there, though, Dal doubled over. He hunched over, grimacing at the pain in his ribs, which had been steadily building with every step.  
  
"Man, you should be a football player," he grunted. "You got a great tackle."  
  
Jason put an arm around Dallas and put one of Dal's arms around him. "Sorry 'bout that. I should've remembered your broken ribs. Do we need to rest a bit or can you make it back?"  
  
"Just help me get there, man." Dallas grimaced as Jason pulled him up. Leaning against him, they slowly made their way back to the house.  
  
Once there, Jason set Dal down on the bed. He got some more pills and Dallas took them. Lisa called for her son, so as soon as Dallas appeared in less pain, Jason left to help his mother and her friends. He had kept the switchblade.  
  
Dallas lay back on the bed. His ribs were still in some pain, but his emotions were in worse shape. His hands still had a little shake from the experience. He didn't have his switchblade so he couldn't try it again. But right now, Dallas wasn't so sure he could've been able to. He clenched his fists to control the shaking.

........  
  
_Soda held Johnny gently in his lap as Johnny told his story. Johnny tried to control the tears but they fell anyway. As Johnny spoke, Dallas felt stabs of guilt. He hadn't been there for him. When Johnny had needed him most, he hadn't been there.  
  
They were at the drive-in. Dallas was annoying the girl. Johnny told him to leave her alone. Dallas would have hit any other person who dared to tell him what to do, but he couldn't hit Johnny so he left. Pony and Johnny walked the girls home.  
  
Ponyboy was being drowned by the soc. Johnny was defending him and somehow he killed a soc.  
  
Johnny was rushing in the church to save those kids. Dallas was too late to grab him.  
  
Johnny, a nervous wreck after his beating.  
  
Dal leaving, the boys being beat up, Johnny killing the soc.  
  
Johnny crying as he told his story to the gang. He hadn't been there.  
  
Pony drowning, Johnny killing the soc. Dal had left them.  
  
The boys taking off to save the kids. Dallas too late to grab them.  
  
He hadn't been there. He had left them. He had been too late to grab them.  
  
Not there... left...too late...Johnny bruised and beaten...Johnny defending...Johnny killing...Johnny saving...Johnny dying...  
  
Hadn't been there... leaving them...too late...Johnny dying...Dal too late...too late...he had left them...too late...  
  
"Dallas."  
  
"No, no."  
  
Leaving them...not there...too late...not there...too late... leaving them...Johnny dying...  
  
"Dallas."_  
  
"Dallas! Wake up!"  
  
He awoke with a start, his eyes shooting open. His breath was coming in short gasps and he was drenched in sweat. He closed his eyes, trying to shake off the dream. He took a breath then opened his eyes and focused on the girl before him.  
  
Carly stared at him, her hazel eyes as wide as saucers.  
  
"You were having a nightmare!" she exclaimed, her skinny frame bobbing up and down in excitement. "I've never heard someone have a nightmare before. Was it scary?"  
  
He didn't respond. Dal closed his eyes and ran a hand across his face. Then slowly, shakily, he pushed himself into a sitting position.  
  
Carly, oblivious to his distress, hopped up and sat on the bed next to Dal's legs. Leaning forward she said, "Dinner's almost ready. You missed lunch, ya know. Slept for seven straight hours."  
  
Dallas took a deep breath. "I'll be there in a minute."  
  
Carly jumped off the bed and ran to the door. She turned sharply and called to him on her way out, "Mama says for you to wash up, too!"  
  
Dallas leaned his head back against the boards. He ran his hands through his hair. The dream was still with him. He couldn't get the pictures out of his head. It wasn't just a dream. It wasn't a nightmare he could just wake himself out of. This was real.  
  
He was responsible for Johnny's death. If he hadn't been annoying those girls, Johnny and Pony would never have met them and got into all this trouble. If he hadn't left, they boys wouldn't have been beaten up and Johnny wouldn't have killed the soc. If he had reached out faster he could've stopped the boys from going into the fire.  
  
He shouldn't have annoyed on those girls. He shouldn't have left. If he hadn't done those things, Johnny would still be alive. He wasn't just a criminal who had robbed a store. He was a murderer. A murderer didn't deserve to live. His hand reached around for the knife in his pocket. But then he remembered. Jason had it.  
  
He couldn't go back to the gang now. He was the reason they were in all the trouble they were in. He was responsible for bringing all these worries down on them. He was responsible for killing the heart of the gang. He had killed Johnny. The gang had to hate him. Surely they knew he was responsible by now.  
  
He didn't deserve to live. His hand moved again to his pocket. He didn't deserve to live, but he had nothing to kill himself with. He would have to wait and get his knife back from Jason.  
  
Dal got up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom. His body was doing all this on its own. His mind wasn't capable of functioning. He turned on the faucet and started washing his hands. When he had finished, he splashed some water on his face. The coldness of the water snapped his mind out of the daze it had been in.  
  
He made his way to the dining room, the mask back in place. A part of his mind wondered why he was still going through with all of this. But instinct was making him do this and Dallas Winston had lived on his instincts his entire life. He couldn't stop now.  
  
He sat down in his chair, oblivious to all the happy hubbub around him. He sat, slumped, throughout the prayer, and only half-heartedly did he reach for the plates of food. And he only reached because instincts told him he had to try to keep up his charade. Only if he kept up the charade would he have a chance to get the knife back from Jason.  
  
The banter floated around the room. With Lori back, the whole family seemed reenergized. Occasionally Jason would glance concernedly in Dal's direction, but he never commented on it.  
  
Once Carly turned to him and asked, "Who's Johnny?"  
  
Dallas started.  
  
"Who's Johnny?" she asked again. "You kept saying Johnny when you were having your nightmare."  
  
He kept his attention on his plate, not looking up. "Nobody," he snapped.  
  
Carly giggled. "Of course he's somebody. So who is he?"  
  
Lori had seen Dallas's flinch, and now she leaned over to Carly and pulled one of her braids sharply.  
  
"Hey!" Carly reached over, got a handful of Lori's mass of brown curls, and jerked it down.  
  
"Ouch!"  
  
And with Carly's attention diverted elsewhere, so ended her questions about Johnny. The talk continued to circle around the table. Lisa started telling about what had gone wrong at work to Brian.  
  
"Well, when I got home, I went on my computer to see about the sales. Something went wrong somehow, and a bunch of the sales records had just disappeared. I searched all over and couldn't find it. I called the manager at the store, and he went on the computer there and couldn't find them either. So he, Mike, and Shawn came over here. We combed through every file, and we even had Jason come in and help us. Finally we found the records; I guess someone had placed them in a wrong file. But I tell you, I almost had a heart attack when that happened."  
  
"Oh," she directed her gaze over to Dal, "I was wondering if you wanted to come help me in the store, Dallas."  
  
Dal sent her a glare that left no doubt what he thought about that.  
  
But she already knew how to handle him. "See, a couple of guys quit a few days ago, and I haven't found replacements yet. Lori's helping too, so you won't be alone. And I'd pay you."  
  
"Yippee," he said sarcastically.  
  
"Well, everyone is going to be gone from this house tomorrow," she stated irritably. "It's either work with me, or help out with Brian at the hospital."  
  
Dallas didn't answer; he just twirled his fork around his plate, resting his head in his hand.  
  
Brian stared at him for a second, then cleared his throat.  
  
"Dallas, I called your dad this morning." At the mention of his dad, Dallas looked up. "He gave me a message for you."  
  
_Darry's going to tell me to never come back. I was the cause of Johnny's death and all that Ponyboy had to go through. The gang hates me now.  
_  
"Your dad said that he misses you." Brian thought for a moment to remember exactly what the message said. "And he also said that you have friends that love you and need you to come home."  
  
Dallas swallowed hard, carefully controlling his emotions. The feelings the message evoked couldn't be shown here. He didn't respond to Brian and his face betrayed nothing, but later throughout the meal, he sat up straighter, and he ate his food instead of pushing it around.

.......  
  
Midnight. The entire household was asleep at this hour. All but one. Dallas was still up, pacing around the room. His hands combed and combed through his hair as his mind raced.  
  
The gang didn't hate him. They didn't hate him! Not only did they not hate him, they missed him and needed him to come back! He couldn't believe it.  
  
What was he going to do now? Everything had changed. He was so confused. At first he wanted to kill himself and he had had the chance, then he wasn't sure if he wanted to, then he wanted so badly to but he didn't have a weapon, and now he still didn't have a weapon and he had no idea what he wanted to do.  
  
He had to sort this out. He was the cause of Johnny's death, he knew that. But the gang still wanted him back. With Johnny gone he didn't want to live, but the gang wanted and needed him. But how could he live without Johnny?  
  
But then, how could he die knowing the gang still needed him? No, he couldn't kill himself. Dal stopped pacing and his hands fell to his sides. He had been selfish before and Johnny had died because of it. He shouldn't've purposely annoyed those girls at the drive-in; he knew Pony and Johnny wouldn't like it. He shouldn't've left when Johnny had stood up to him. He had been selfish by leaving.  
  
Well, he wasn't going to be selfish again. It would be selfish to end his life now when he knew the gang needed him. He had already caused the gang enough trouble and pain. He wouldn't add to it. He would stay alive. And he would go back to the gang. The gang needed him and he was going back. They deserved that much.

* * *

Well, I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long for this chapter, especially after a cliff hangar. But I made this one a little longer, so I hope you liked it.  
  
Thank you for your reviews. Sorry if some of y'all thought the blackmail was serious; it was meant as a joke more than anything else. But the blackmail worked, 'cause I got so many reviews! Maybe I should keep using blackmail. But I won't have to resort to that if you review, so please review!  
  
sodapop02- Well, you have your answer about the cops. Hope you liked it. Thank you for being the first person to review. It made my day!  
  
Beth- You don't know how happy you made me with that review! I hope you liked the descriptions. There weren't that many in this chapter, but there'll be more in later chaps. Thank you for answering my questions about Dally. Thank you so much for that review, and I hope you like the chapter!  
  
Ryuuen no Aisai- Thanks for the review. I'm flattered you say you love it. Sorry I took a while to update.  
  
steves-girl- Thank you so much! You have reviewed every chapter so far. I hope you had fun on your holidays. Thanks for the compliments on the story. With any luck, you don't get disappointed, and you continue to like the story!  
  
sully- Well, sorry 'bout the cliff hangar. I didn't mean for you to have to wait so long for the next chap. The blackmail wasn't really serious, but hey, look how many people review when they think I might not update soon. I may just continue using it. Kidding.  
  
Tensleep- Thank you for your concern. I'm glad you think Dallas was perfect in this chapter. Yeah, Dally and Carly are always fun to put together, mainly because of Dally's hatred of little kids. Thanks for the review! You've reviewed every chapter so far, too! I love you guys!  
  
MissLKid- I'm glad you like the story. I've tried to make this story different than the others, but I don't know how well I'm doing. At least I know one person thinks I'm doing okay. =] Thanks for the review!  
  
shyXshortieXbabe- Thanks for reviewing. I'm delighted you think it's cute. =} Thanks for the compliment about Dal's personality. I try hard to keep true to the characters. Hopefully, Dal doesn't turn into a softie. You never know...(  
  
Okay, guys, I need your reviews. This isn't blackmail. This is just a simple observation. When a person gets feedback, be it good or bad, this makes the person happy because that person knows that somebody out there is reading their story. And when they know someone's reading their story, they tend to have more inspiration, write better, write faster, and post faster. This is just a simple observation.  
  
Thanks to all of you who reviewed. And thanks to Scarlett7 who continues to make this story better than it could possibly be without her. And for those of you who liked having some descriptions in this chapter, be sure to thank Beth. She reviewed, she critiqued me, and I decided to put more descriptions in my story. There weren't that many in this chap, but probably there'll be in later chaps. So, give both of them a round of applause! 


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, we're here." Lori parked the car, got out, and shut her door. She gave an impatient look at the man sitting shotgun. "So, ya coming?"  
  
Dallas glanced lazily in her direction. He pulled on the handle of the door, got out slowly, then slammed the door closed. He leaned against the car, then tilted his head to stare at Lori.  
  
She rolled her eyes at him as she walked over to the store. Dal waited a few seconds, but knowing it was no use, he followed her in. The store was a tiny one compared to the two giants flanking it. It seemed quaint, but was obviously well-cared for and loved.  
  
"What kind of a store is this?" he asked as they stepped inside.  
  
"What's it look like?" she retorted.  
  
_Junk,_ was the thought that leapt to his mind, but he knew not to say it. The store was pretty enough with a rustic appearance and a nice, homely aroma. But it was filled with all sorts of things from books to what looked like vintage clothing, artwork to little rock figurines.  
  
Lisa appeared in a doorway in the back. Gesturing to them she called out, "Hey, you're here. Good, y'all can get started right away." She turned back into the storeroom, Lori at her heels.  
  
"Great," Dal muttered under his breath. He lazily got off the wall he had been leaning against and strolled after the pair.  
  
"Okay, Dallas," Lisa shoved a box into his arms; he barely caught it. "Follow Lori over and she'll help you find the places for the items in here."  
  
Dallas made his way over to where Lori was crouched next to her box. He set his down next to hers, then watched as she opened up her box. She pulled out some books, flipped through them, then straightened up.  
  
"Books you place right over here," she stated as she walked over and placed the books on the shelf.  
  
"Wow, I'd have never figured that out. Placing the books where all the other books are. Real ingenious." Dal rolled his eyes, his voice full of sarcasm.  
  
"What is your problem, Dallas Winston?" Lori's green eyes flashed dangerously.  
  
Dallas shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"Well, my mom's paying you to be here so I think you should at least be a little cordial and help us work." She spun on her heel, her ponytail bouncing.  
  
Dallas could have smacked himself. There he went again, alienating these people. If he kept at it, they could boot him right out the door, and he _had_ to stay here. His ribs still ached from the fight with Jason. It was unrealistic to even think about walking back home, and he didn't want to steal a car; he was in enough trouble already. If he kept on their good side, maybe he could get a ride back.  
  
He walked back over and picked up some items from the box. "Well, I could always use the money," he drawled out.  
  
Lori glanced at him, biting her lip to keep from smiling, before returning her attention to the boxes. They went to work.

..........  
  
"Well now, you two have done a great job." Lisa had just finished helping a customer and now she was admiring the work the two kids had been doing. All that morning, they had moved boxes of stuff from storage onto display in the store. They had carried off the old, unneeded items to the storage room, and then carried trash and broken things onto a truck to dump. It had been sweaty, tiring work, especially in the stuffy storage room, but finally they would get a break. It was lunch time.  
  
"Okay, where do you want to go?" Lisa asked as the three made their way to Lori's car. "I was thinking some fast food?"  
  
"Fine with me," Lori replied.  
  
"You care where Dallas?" Lisa glanced at him through the rear view mirror.  
  
Dallas slumped down in the back seat. "No," he said bluntly.  
  
The two women exchanged glances. Lori just shrugged.  
  
"Okay, Dallas, then we get to decide."

.......  
  
"Dairy Queen?" he groaned as they waited in line.  
  
"Hey, we gave you a chance to vote on where to go, so don't complain." Lori responded. They walked up to the register and gave their orders. Once they had their food, they found a booth and sat down.  
  
"You know, Dallas, I wish all my employees were like you. You don't complain, don't gripe, you just do it." Lisa complimented him. "I wish I could sign you on as a regular."  
  
"I'm going home," he said sharply and stabbed his spoon into his sundae. Inwardly, he groaned. This place was shaking him up a bit. The memories of Johnny and Ponyboy just before the fire kept coming to him. He wished they had gone to a different restaurant.  
  
"I know Dallas, I was only joking. I know you want to go home."  
  
Lori tucked a stray lock of brown hair back into her ponytail. "By the way, Dallas, where is your home?"  
  
_It's a regular question. Just act natural and no one will suspect._ "Tulsa."  
  
Lori's green eyes widened. "Tulsa? How'd you get all the way down here to McAlester?"  
  
_McAlester. So that's where he was._ He put down his spoon and stared at Lori for a second. Then he shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"You don't know how you got here?" She snorted in amusement. Lisa gave a smile very much like her daughter's and took a sip of her drink. "Come on," Lori coaxed.  
  
Dal had found his excuse. "Well, my dad and I had an argument, about grades or something, I don't know." _Like I'd go to school._ "And I went for a drive to cool down. But I was pretty worked up, and it took a while to cool off, and somewhere along the way I busted my car; I don't remember how. So I walked on, looking for help and I guess I ended up here." The lies rolled easily off his tongue; after years of defending himself from the police they should.  
  
Lisa looked at him thoughtfully. "So that's why you didn't want Brian to tell your dad where you were. You were afraid he'd be mad at you."  
  
Dallas picked up his spoon. "I still am." He dug in, pleased at how well he had dodged the questions.  
  
Mrs. Mathews nodded her head in understanding. She unwound her tall, slender frame and got up. "Well, before we leave I am going to go to the ladies room. Don't miss me." She smiled and left.  
  
Lori shook her head at her mother. "We won't Mom, don't worry." She picked up the trash on the table and threw it away  
  
Dallas stared into his sundae. He kept seeing Johnny and Pony in here, shoving everything they could into their mouths. When he had gone to the church he hadn't seen them for about a week and he had secretly feared they might not have made it. But they had been there. They had gone to a Dairy Queen and Johnny and Pony both had acted like they hadn't eaten for months. Then they had gone to the church...  
  
"How old are you?"  
  
_Does this girl ever be quiet?_  
  
"Why do you ask so many questions?" he shot back.  
  
"I don't know. Curious, I guess." She grinned at him. "Come on now, how old are you?"  
  
He shrugged his shoulders again. "What's it matter?" He was sick of answering questions.  
  
She sipped her Coke before answering, "Nothing. I just wondered. I just turned twenty. I'm a sophomore in college.  
  
"Good for you."  
  
She ignored the sarcasm. "Let's see. You must be around seventeen, eighteen, or nineteen."  
  
"Must be."  
  
Lori shook her head in disbelief. "You're not going to give me a straight answer are you?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
She stared at him quizzically, but before she could respond, Lisa came out of the ladies room.  
  
"All right, I'm ready. Let's get back to work."

...........  
  
"Anybody here?" Jason sang out as he walked into the store, Carly in tow.  
  
"Just a second," Lori's voice called from the back. She came out with some rags in her hand, greeting her sister with a hug.  
  
"Where's Dallas?" Jason looked around, but didn't see him.  
  
"He's in the back, organizing all the stuff. Evidently he didn't think mopping was manly work," Lori deepened her voice on 'manly.' "And I finally got him to organize. Just now we're going to dust this store off, and since you're here, you're going to help." She tossed a rag at Jason.  
  
Dallas came out of the storeroom. "Okay, I'm done. What next?"  
  
"We're dusting." Lori threw another rag at Dallas, then took Carly's hand and ran with her over to a shelf.  
  
"Hey, I thought y'all would be behind the cash register, just helping customers and stuff. Not dusting." Jason made a face as he walked over to a shelf, Dallas on his heels.  
  
"Well, we probably will tomorrow. Mom had just gotten a shipment in and so we dealt with that today. Mom went to throw away all the trash we collected." Lori replied absentmindedly; she was watching to make sure Carly didn't drop anything breakable.  
  
They worked on the shelves in silence for a while. But after some time Lori threw her rag down.  
  
"I could use some music. It's getting boring in here." She walked over to the radio and turned it on. Out came music known only too well to Dallas.  
  
"Oh no, not Hank Williams," he covered his ears, "Not Hank Williams."  
  
"What are you talking about? He's great!" Lori shouted over the music as she turned the volume up. She grabbed Carly and started to dance, singing the words.  
  
"Hey, good lookin', whatcha got cookin', how's about cooking something up with me..."  
  
Dallas groaned. Buck had played Hank Williams all the time at his place. It had driven Dallas insane. And now, here it was again.  
  
Lori twirled Carly into Jason's waiting hands. The two of them spun off, Carly's long frame putting her just above Jason's waist. As they glided around the floor, Lori turned back to Dallas. She took one of his hands and tried to pull him onto the makeshift dance floor. Dallas didn't budge an inch.  
  
"Come on, Dallas. Let's dance. I love this song." Her eyes sparkled in excitement, and strands of brown curls were splattered to her forehead with sweat.  
  
"No," Dal refused.  
  
"Come on, don't tell me you're afraid," she grinned at him.  
  
"I'm not afraid," he replied simply. "I just don't want to dance. And especially not to this song."  
  
"That's it? I'm supposed to believe it's the song?" Lori asked sarcastically. "I don't think so. I think you don't know how to dance."  
  
Dallas narrowed his eyes at her. "Lady, I know how to dance. But I don't want to, so quit pestering me."  
  
Lori stopped pulling on his arms. "Okay, okay, you can just watch. Let's go Jason." She walked over to Jason who was still whirling Carly about. Carly turned and ran over to Dallas.  
  
She looked up at him with her hazel eyes pleading. "You and me can dance now, right?" She tugged on his sleeve.  
  
Dallas avoided her gaze, his eyes wandering around the room, looking for a way to escape this new nuisance. Finally, not seeing one, he gave Carly a little push, and walked back over to the shelf he had been working on.  
  
Carly gave a little pout, crossed her arms, and turned back to watch Lori and Jason dance. She wasn't left on the sidelines for very long, however, since Lori quickly switched to give Carly some more dance time.  
  
When the song was over, they stopped and went back to work, albeit a little more flushed and tired than before the song. Lori gave a sigh as she walked back to finish her cleaning.  
  
"Whew. I haven't heard that song in forever. Boy, it felt good to dance again. Despite what people think," she looked pointedly in Jason's direction, "college isn't a lot of fun and games. It's just study, study, study. That felt great."  
  
Dallas rolled his eyes at Lori's fervency. He did know how to dance, but he didn't think it was that big of a deal. It was just walking with a little swaying in between the steps. Whoopee.  
  
All of them worked silently again, listening to some more songs on the radio. Then it switched to the news and they had to listen to how unbearable the heat was becoming in McAlester.  
  
Finally Jason threw his rag in the air with a whoop. "I'm finished here."  
  
Lori wiped a hand across her brow. "Well, Mom's busy with a customer. You think we can sneak out of here without her seeing?"  
  
Jason turned to Dallas. "You ready to go?"  
  
But Dallas didn't seem to hear him. He just stood, staring transfixed at the radio. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be saying what he thought it was saying.  
  
"A couple of the schoolchildren had a few minor burns. But the three boys who saved these kids from the burning church in Windrixeville suffered worse. In fact one of the boys, Johnny Cade, died in a hospital a few days later from very severe burns across his body. Johnny Cade was just sixteen years old, that's not much time to have lived, but he'll always be remembered. The kids he saved and their parents will never be able to forget him."  
  
"How sad," Lori murmured.  
  
Dallas slowly walked towards the radio, taking in every word the reporter said. Jason and Lori both looked puzzled at his actions.  
  
The reporter went on: "Ponyboy Curtis, fourteen, was another of the boys that went into the church. Curtis suffered only minor burns, but he's still laid up sick in bed, and nothing has been said as to whether or not he is in danger of dying."  
  
_Ponyboy sick?_ Dallas couldn't believe it. _In danger of dying?_ He had to be okay, though. He had to be. Ponyboy was never sick. He couldn't be now. He couldn't.  
  
"And the third of our heroic trio has-"  
  
Dallas quickly flicked the radio off. He took a deep, steadying breath. His emotions became masked again. He knew he had already made a big mistake allowing them to see his emotions during the radio announcement. And now he had almost let the radio say his name. Big mistake.  
  
He whirled around, glaring at Jason and Lori. "Well, we're done, aren't we? Let's get out of this stupid store." He brushed past them, heading to the car.  
  
Lori stared after him. "_What_ was that about?"

* * *

Okay, this chapter is finally up. Now, a little news. I will be gone from August 1st to August 8th. I will for the most part not have access to a computer, so this will probably the last update for a bit, at least until I get back. I will work on the next chapters while I'm there, so don't worry about that.  
  
sully- First of all, thanks for being the first one to review. I'm sorry you don't like cliffhangars. I actually kind of enjoy them (even when I'm reading another's story). It lets your imagination take control for a bit, and you can visualize whatever you think will happen or whatever you want to happen. But cliffhangars _are_ annoying if the author doesn't update quickly. So sorry for the long wait. =)  
  
CiCi- Thanks for that kind review. It's so fun to see new people reviewing. That always makes my day. I love Carly and Dally too. They're cute together. I hope you liked this chapter, and please review again even if you don't. =)  
  
MissLKid- I'm glad you think so. Here's wishing it continues to be different than others. Yeah, Dallas had one hectic day. His nerves had to have been fried at the end of it. Thanks for your review, hope you liked this one!  
  
Beth- Man, I love your reviews! So long, it's icing on top of the cake for me. I am delighted you liked that chapter. It did bring out more of Dal's personality. Don't worry; I think you'll get a lot more of Jason and Carly moments. You're right about Mr. and Mrs. Mathews; they are great role models. But whether they rub off on Dallas, I am not saying. Thanks for the compliment on that paragraph. Thanks for all the compliments. They're so inspiring.  
  
Cinderbrat- You crack me up! But your point is well taken, so here you go. When Lisa got home, she started checking through the sales account book she had brought from the store. A bunch of the sales were missing so those three guys came over with their own sales account books. They searched through every one of them and finally found the sales. Someone had written the sales in the wrong spot. Okay, how's that? Books instead of computers. But I'm glad you still liked the chapter. Thanks for the review and the critique!  
  
EPS- Thanks for reviewing. I'm thrilled you enjoyed that! And I hope you liked this one!  
  
Tensleep- Wow, I love that you loved it! Thanks for those compliments! They mean so much. I think Dallas would be upset after trying to kill himself, so much so that he would shake. I'm glad you found that paragraph about Dallas straightening up to eat moving. I'm ecstatic that you found that chapter so enjoyable! Hopefully you like this one, too.  
  
steves-girl- Cool! Mine was the first story you read when you got back! That means so much to me! Glad your holidays went well! Thanks for reviewing! (Man, I put every sentence in exclamation points.) = )  
  
Jessie13- Another new reviewer. I'm so honored. I'm also honored that it moved you enough to make you cry. ( I hope this was soon enough for you. But next update will be a little longer in coming, since I'll be gone. Thanks for the review!  
  
Well, as usual, please read and review! It's great to hear from you. Whether you like it or hate it please review, your input can only make this story better! Thanks and have a great day! 


	6. Chapter 6

"Johnny! Pony!"

Dallas writhed and twisted on his bed, tossing back and forth, entangling himself in the sheets. He moaned and called out. His head jerked from side to side as sweat poured off of him. His eyes were darting back and forth under his eyelids. Crying out again, he would have fallen off the bed, if it were not for somebody's strong hands catching him.

"Dallas, Dallas, man wake up." The voice was accompanied by a hand shaking his shoulder.

He groaned again, fighting some invisible enemy, clawing with his hands.

"Dallas wake up." The voice was firm and the shaking grew more insistent.

Dal mumbled some more, the figure shook even harder, but finally Dallas was awake. Or at least he was not sleeping. He turned over and looked at the figure, his eyes glazed from sleep.

"Johnny?" he asked groggily.

Jason gave him a gentle shake. "No, man, this is Jason. Jason Mathews. Remember?"

"Jason?" Dal's eyes were clearing; he was finally awake.

"Yeah, it's me. Man, you must have been having some nightmare; I could hear you yelling in my room. If you had kept at it you would have woken up the whole house."

Dallas sat up slowly. Another nightmare. Johnny dying, and Pony... Pony sick maybe dying himself. Or was he dead already? _No, the news would have said that. He's still alive._ He forced himself to think that. He forced himself to. He couldn't bear the thought of both Johnny and Pony... _He's not dead! _

He curled his hands into fists, to help maintain control over his body. He wasn't going to shake again in front of Jason. "What time is it?" he asked, getting his thoughts away from the nightmares.

"It's three in the morning," Jason replied, stifling a yawn. He was about to say something else, when a creak drew both their attentions to the door.

Carly stood in the doorway, clutching her teddy bear. "What's going on?" she asked rubbing her eyes.

Jason answered her, "Nothing Carly, you go back to bed. Dallas just had a bad dream."

But Carly's eyes widened at his words, and she bounded over to Dallas. She jumped on the bed, right on Dallas's feet. Carly was unaware of this little fact, so Dal kicked his legs and moved her off of his feet. He rolled his eyes; this was definitely not the time for a little kid to be bugging him.

"You had another nightmare?" she asked excitedly. "Wow!" she spoke in awe. "That is so cool!"

"Carly," Jason said reproachfully, "nightmares aren't cool. They're scary things, and I don't want my sister to be thinking their fun."

Carly bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Jason." She appeared sad for a second or two, then an idea came to her, and her excitement bounced back. "Dallas, if you're really scared, I'll let you have Teddy." She held Teddy straight out, right in front of Dal's face.

"Get that thing out of my face," he snapped, his knuckles growing white as he fought to control his already uptight nerves.

Carly pushed the bear a little closer. "But you can-"

Dallas grabbed the bear and tossed it at the wall. "I don't want a bear. Now scram, kid," he said angrily.

Carly hopped off the bed and picked up her teddy. She cradled it in her arms, then turned back to Dallas. "You're _sure_ you don't want him?"

In reply Dallas picked up his pillow and chucked it at her.

It hit her square in the chest. She fell back, but was up in an instant, giggling her head off. Picking up the pillow, she marched across the room and stopped right in front of Dal. She raised the pillow high, a huge grin across her face.

"Don't even try it, kid," Dal warned her.

Carly's smile just grew. She reared back, and then let the pillow fly.

It came down right on Dallas's face. Dal jerked at the sting. It only lasted a moment, but the sting made his temper flare even more. His jaw set, he picked up the pillow and got ready to wop her as hard a blow as he could.

"Hey, hey. That's enough." Jason grabbed the pillow from Dallas with one hand, and with the other he slung Carly over his shoulder. "Let's get you to bed, Carly," he said as he walked out of the room.

Dallas couldn't believe himself. He had lost it just because a little kid had offered him a teddy bear. He had to stop this. Every time he thought or dreamt about the gang, his control cracked. If that kept happening, sooner or later they would find out about him. And if they found out, he would have about three seconds before the cops were all over him.

Jason came back in and tossed the pillow at Dallas, who caught it and set it on the bed.

He commented with a slight smile, "You know you're awfully mean to Carly."

Dal stared unblinkingly at him; his mask back in place. "So?"

"So, I think you should stop," the smile disappeared. "I don't want you to hurt my sister."

Dallas cocked his head at the tone in Jason's voice. There was something there, he just couldn't figure out what. But, first things first, reassure his hosts, so they wouldn't boot him out the door. "Hey, man, I would never hurt a little kid."

"Never?" the question was laced with disbelief.

"Yeah, never." Dallas snapped.

Jason looked down at the floor then glanced a couple of times around the room. His poker face betrayed none of what he was thinking. Finally, he turned to Dallas. "So what do you call smacking a girl with a pillow so she falls over?"

Dal knew Jason had him, but he wouldn't admit it. He held out his hands palms upward in innocence. "Hey, she's the one that started it."

Jason slowly grinned, and he shook his head in amusement. "That is the most childish excuse I have ever heard. 'She's the one that started it.'" he mimicked. He walked to the door. "No more nightmares, okay? I got to get some sleep before baseball practice this morning."

Dallas heard the door close, and his hands unclenched slowly. He was angry at himself, angry for allowing his emotions to show and letting them take control. He was sick of these nightmares. They left him feeling too disturbed and agitated. Johnny's death had affected him so severely and if Pony died because of him also... he wouldn't be able to take it. He had to stop visiting the hospital in his dreams. He had to stop imagining Pony dying, pleading, _Why Dallas? Why did you do this? _

The dreams left him trembling and way too vulnerable. And he couldn't have that right now. He had to keep the dreams from coming. He had to or the family would find out. And the only way he knew to do that was not to sleep at all. He'd stayed up lots of nights before, especially back in New York dodging the police. The trick was to keep yourself occupied. Don't let yourself have a moment's respite. He started memorizing the features in the room as he waited for the day to start.

.........

"Hey, Dallas, why don't you handle the register now?" Lori asked as she closed the cash register. In the morning, they had finished some last-minute deliveries, and after lunch the two of them had started helping with customers. Unfortunately, Dallas wasn't what you would call the most helpful service man. And now Lori thought it was time for a change.

Dallas shrugged. "Fine." He'd rather be behind the counter anyway than helping those people. Those people with their fine clothes and their rolls of money who could afford to buy anything and everything in the store. Those people made him sick.

The chime sounded; the door opened. A woman with a little boy who looked less than thrilled to be here came in. Lori immediately sprang over to help them, leaving Dallas alone at the counter. That suited him just fine.

He hopped up on the counter and began thumbing through the newspaper, all the while intently listening to the radio. It was on again, and Dallas had tried his hardest to always be within hearing, and most preferably, flicking off distance. But nothing had been said about the fire in Windrixville, or Ponyboy's condition, or Dallas's robbery. And so far, nothing was in the newspaper. He was glad nothing had been said about the robbery, but a part of him had hoped to hear about Ponyboy's condition.

The chime sounded again and an old lady entered. He turned to look at Lori who was busy showing some items off to the lady while the boy chewed his gum, looking extremely bored. He made eye contact with her, and jerked his head at the old lady. Lori responded with a pointed glance at her two customers.

Dallas looked at the old lady. She looked like she could handle herself just fine. He went back to the newspaper.

"Uh, excuse me, young man, could you help me?" the old lady asked from where she was looking over some statues.

He looked over at Lori; she was still busy with the mother and kid. Dallas sighed, threw down his paper, hopped off the counter, and made his way over to the old lady. She was peering at some figurines. Dallas walked up to her.

"What do ya want?" he asked in a brusque voice.

The lady turned and smiled when she saw him. "I'm trying to decide which of these I should buy. It's for my grandson and I just can't figure it out." She held up two statues. One was in the shape of a pig in white porcelain, and the other was a seal in grey.

Dallas rolled his eyes at the thought of a boy wanting a figurine like that. But he had to be nice. "Uh, which one do you like best?"

"That's the trouble; I don't know. The pig is only ten dollars while the seal is twelve, but the seal is pretty-"

"Twelve dollars?" Dal questions incredulously. "For a rock?"

"It's not a rock," the lady responded, miffed. "It's a porcelain seal figurine that is very detailed."

"Oh, well, excuse me. Then of course it's worth it." Dal muttered sarcastically. That made him madder than anything. When a person could spend twelve dollars on a rock that was too much. _Those rich socs._

"Yeah, I think I'll get the seal. What do you think?"

Dallas stared at the seal, his lip curled in disgust. She was spending twelve bucks for a statuette her grandson would hate. Darry would be spending twelve bucks to help keep his family provided for. Life was so unfair. "I think it looks like a load of-"

"Dallas." Lisa's sharp voice broke in before he could finish his sentence. "Why don't you go...go...well, just go. I'll help Mrs. Tyler."

Dallas was glad to be going. He walked on over to Lori, whose customers had left. She was shaking her head at him.

"What?" he asked angrily. He wasn't in a good mood.

"That's not how you make sales."

"She would have bought the thing anyway," he brushed the comment away.

Lori shrugged and lifted her hands in surrender. She went behind the counter and waited to ring Mrs. Tyler up. When Mrs. Tyler was taken care of, Lisa came over to stand beside Dallas. Her light brown eyes studied Dallas angrily.

"Dallas, don't you ever try to swear in this store, especially not in front of a customer. Is that understood?"

"Yeah."

"Excuse me?" Lisa raised her eyebrows.

He rolled his eyes. "I mean, yes ma'am.

"That's better." Lisa gave him a smile then got back to work.

The door opened again, and this time Jason and Carly entered. Carly ran over to Dallas. But a few feet away from him, she tripped and fell. Dallas instinctively reached out and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Whew! Thanks, Dal!" She smiled as she flicked the imaginary dust off her shoulders. As Dallas headed back to the counter and back to his newspaper, Carly stayed in step with him. "Hey, guess what, Dallas?"

"What?" he said as he went back to glancing through the newspaper.

"Katie gave me this." She held up a necklace with a gold heart on it. "It says best friends forever. Isn't that cool?" She waited for a reply, but Dallas wasn't listening to her.

"Isn't cool?" she asked again, holding it up higher. When he still didn't respond, she reached up and pulled the paper down, and dangled the necklace in front of his face. "Isn't it?"

Dallas pushed her hand away roughly. He placed the paper down flat, and leaned on the counter as he searched through the news.

Carly gave up on him and ran behind the counter to find Lori. After Lori's oohs and aahs she began begging.

"Please, Lori, let's go play hide-and-seek. Come on."

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I still have to work. Go get Jason to play with you."

Carly made a face. "He's no fun. He stinks at hide-and-seek. I want you."

As Lori started to reason with Carly again, Lisa spoke up. "Why don't you and Dallas go on? Store's open only a couple more hours and I can take care of any customers. You go on and play with Carly."

"Well, if you're sure, let's go!" Lori got her keys and her purse from behind the counter. Carly pulled on Dallas's arm as she waited for Lori, who had walked over to talk to her mom.

"Come on Dallas, you get to sit by me in the car. Then we can play hide-and-seek at home."

Dallas was getting sick and tired of being pulled on. Squatting down, he took hold of the girl's arms and gave her a shake. "Listen, kid, I do not want to play hide-and-seek with you. And I definitely don't want to sit next to you." He stood up and walked out the door to wait next to Lori's car.

Carly watched him leave. "But hide-and-seek's really fun," she called after him. Lori came up just then, and Carly quickly forgot about Dallas.

"Ready to go squirt?" At Carly's eager nod, Lori turned to Jason. "Where's Dallas?"

Jason paused for a moment. He had seen Dal's conversation with Carly. "He's gonna come home with me. We've got some things to do."

Lori shrugged. "All right."

The three of them walked out to join Dallas. Lori unlocked the car and opened her door. Jason went to the passenger door and held it out for Carly. Dallas moved to follow Carly, but Jason closed the door behind her. Lori drove out of the parking lot.

"What do you think you're doing?" Dallas asked angrily. Jason just turned and stared him down.

Finally Jason said, "You're coming with me. We're going shopping."

"Shopping?"

"Yeah, you're going to get Carly a present."

"I don't think so. I'm not getting that kid anything."

"Yeah, you are." Jason opened his car door and stood there, still staring at Dallas.

"Who's going to make me? You?" Dal gave a snort at the thought of Jason trying to fight him.

"Oh it's gonna be me. See," he reached in his back pocket, "if you don't come with me, you'll never get this back." He held up Two-Bit's knife.

Winston stared at the knife. He had to give Two-Bit his knife back. If there was one thing he could do to make up for all the pain he had caused the gang, it was giving back to Two-Bit his pride and joy.

He let out a breath. "Fine." He walked over and got in the car.

.....

"How's this?" Dallas asked impatiently. They had been shopping for almost an hour and he hadn't found anything that Jason would agree to. He held up a doll with long black hair and brown eyes that opened and closed, depending on which way you turned her.

Jason barely glanced at the doll before responding, "No."

Dallas rolled his eyes and put the doll down. They looked in the store some more, but they couldn't find anything.

Finally he thought he spotted something. He was in the animal aisle and he saw a stuffed dog. He picked it up. It was small, cuddling size, brown, and sure to make any little girl happy.

"How's this one? A stuffed dog to go with her teddy bear."

Jason took the dog, studied it, then nodded. _Finally,_ Dallas thought. They went up front to pay for it.

"You have money? 'Cause you're buying it." Jason asked they got in line.

Dallas nodded. Funny, he had never thought about it. He had robbed a store and gotten away with a load of cash, and he hadn't even taken it on the train with him. Good thing he still had his wallet.

He paid for the dog and they walked out of the store, four boys coming behind them. They had parked on a side of the store, not in front where the big parking lot was. They walked silently for a minute or two, before Dal broke the silence.

"So, you going to give me my knife back?"

"No."

Dallas stopped walking; two boys brushed past him. "Hey, you said you would give me it back if I bought your sister a present, and I did that."

Jason shook his head. "No, I said that if you didn't I wouldn't give you your knife back. I'll give it back, just not now."

Dal ran a hand through his hair angrily. "You can't do that."

"I shouldn't even give it back to you." His voice had risen and now he brought it down. "The last time you had that knife you almost killed yourself with it. You're lucky I'm not throwing it away, or giving it to the police."

Dallas looked at him sharply. Jason was searching his pockets for his keys and hadn't looked up when he had talked about the police. _If he were threatening me, he would be looking at me to see my reaction. He doesn't know. But still, better be careful._

He watched Jason for a little bit longer than he said, "So when are you-" he broke off as they turned the corner. The two boys who had passed them a minute ago were waiting for them, one leaning on the wall, the other on Jason's car.

"Well well well, what have we here?"

Dallas whirled around. Two others had come up behind them. The four boys, definitely the hood-type, had them surrounded. The one who had spoken took a step closer.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a couple of socs out for a shopping trip. Let's see what's in the bag." He walked over and held out his hand for the bag. Dallas gave it to him.

Taking out the dog, the hood laughed as he held it up. "It seems our little friends like to play with stuffed animals. Aah, ain't they cute?" He tossed it to his friend, both of them laughing.

As the hoods made fun of the dog, Dallas took advantage of their momentary distraction. He slowly reached over to Jason, who was standing right beside him, and pulled the switchblade out from his back pocket. Jason glanced at him, but quickly turned his attention back to the hoods. One of them was walking back with the dog.

Dallas turned his hand over so the gang wouldn't be able to see the knife. The hood with the dog walked over. Dal drew a sharp breath as he saw the figure approaching. His grip on the hidden knife relaxed somewhat.

The blonde-haired hood thrust the dog at Dallas. "Here, we don't need a stuffed animal. What do you do, sleep with it?" He gave a chuckle then turned to address Jason. He opened his mouth, probably to demand their wallets, when he stopped. He glanced back at Dally and his eyes studied him. Suddenly his eyes popped wide open and he gaped in shock.

"Dallas?"

* * *

Well, sorry it took so long. I didn't have as much time to work on this story as I thought I would have. So I literally scrambled this chapter together when I got back. And then had some server problems and I couldn't post it. Oh, well, hopefully even though this chapter was a little rushed, it turns out to be worth the wait.

Jessie13- Thanks for being the first person to review. You were the last one on last chapter and then you're the first one! Pretty cool. I don't know if the family will find out or not, but since I'm pretty sure they don't know too many criminals, they might not take the news so well. But you never know. I'm glad you like the last chapter, hopefully this one's okay. Thanks again!

CinderBrat- Thanks for all the compliments. Sometimes when I think about it, it seems strange that people would be reading my work. And even stranger that people actually like it! Okay, you are one of my best critiquers (if that' a word). And here was one of the things I had a question on. Did they have dolls that opened and closed their eyes in the sixties? If they didn't, it was just a doll that had eyes. =)

MissLKid- Yep, he's had some very painful days. And he'll have plenty more. Hope you like the chap!

Beth- Hey, don't worry about it! As long as you review, I don't care how long it is, I just happen to like long reviews. =) I'm glad you liked the dancing scene. The radio was unique?! Cool! Thanks for the compliment on the characters' personalities. And I did have fun on my vacation, thank you for asking.

Robot In Disguise- Very original name. Aaah, I bet you could compete. Hey, thank you so much for the information. It will really help the story out. It's given me lots of new ideas! I think I now owe several chapters to you. Thanks!

steves-girl- Are you kidding!?! Of course I love you! You read my story first! That is a BIG compliment. Sorry for the long wait, but hopefully you like it. And thank you!

HotSpot1988(Cici)- Yeah, you sort of wish Dallas would dance with her. It is a good song! The main reason I put it in there, well besides the fact that I just plain like it, is that it says in the book that the gang doesn't like Hank Williams! Can you believe that? Someone doesn't like Hey, Good Lookin'! Well, I think there are a ton of remakes to that song, so they probably both sang it! Ah-ah-ah, I'm not saying if Dal and Lori get together. Ya just never know with these things... =)

Tensleep- Well thank you. I thought Dallas would just turn it off. He's more of a just get it done person, no falderal or showiness. Just flip that switch. I had fun on the trip, but I didn't have that much time to write, so in a way I did sort of forget about you fans. But when I got home I went straight to work, so I remembered you in time! Thanks for all your kind words. They mean a lot!!!

ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies- Interesting name. Very unusual. Well you got more, hope you like it. I'm delighted you think it's amazing.

blackshe-wolf- Okay, okay, okay, here's another chapter. =] I'm so happy you like the story, and I'll try my best to update as quickly as I can for the next chapters (though they're all still in my head, I need to write them down.) You have a cute name! I had several reviewers with interesting names this time.

Oh, here's a heads up. After this chapter and maybe the next, my days will be getting a lot more hectic. So, updates might not come as quickly. I'll try my hardest to write and post them as fast as I can, but I make no guarantees. Just thought you'd like to know, so you don't chew me out if I happened to take a while. But I will try hard to go quickly, so there _shouldn't_ be a problem.

Okay, now time to review people! Be it good, bad, or ugly I want your reviews. I love them and I love the people who write them. Except maybe for the ugly ones, but thank goodness to say, I haven't had an ugly one yet. So review people! And have a great day!


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey Cliff," Dal replied to the blonde hood. He slipped the blade in his back pocket as easily and inconspicuously as he had taken it out of Jason's.

"Man, whatcha ya doing here?" the hood, now tagged as Cliff, walked over and slapped Dallas on the back.

"Staying here for a bit, what about you? I thought you were going off to see the world, heading to the big cities."

Cliff just shook his head. "Car broke down, tried to steal another one, got caught. But I'll get to those cities someday, New York, LA, whichever."

Dallas couldn't believe it; of all the hoods out there, it was Cliff Anderson standing right in front of him. Cliff had lived in Tulsa a few years ago. He was a born hood, and he had become bored by the easy Tulsa life, wanting to go to the big cities where the real action was.

"Oh, Dal," Cliff turned to look back at the other members of his gang, "this is Nathan Hanes," the obvious leader of the gang, "Alex Sharp," pointing to the boy on the right, "and that's Spence Krase." The one on the left nodded. Cliff pointed at Dallas.

"This, this here's Dallas Winston, the biggest and baddest hood of them all."

Jason turned to look at Winston. Dal just glanced coolly at each of the boys. They were definitely hoods, no doubt about that.

Nathan scowled at him and took a step forward. "I've heard of Dallas Winston. But, if he's the baddest hood, what's he doing with a soc?"

Jason cocked his head. "I guess that's supposed to be an insult?"

"It's the worst insult you could ever get," Cliff snarled. "Winston what _are_ you doing with him?"

"He's staying with me for a while," Jason answered for him.

"You are?" Cliff asked Dallas in surprise. "Well, I guess there's a first time for everything."

"Okay, enough chit-chat," Nathan stepped closer and Cliff stepped back. He pointed to Jason. "You soc, wallet."

Jason didn't move a muscle.

"Soc, I'm going to get nasty. The only reason I'm not beating you to a pulp is because I respect Winston's reputation and he probably has a good reason for hanging around with scum like you. But I don't stay kind for very long. Give me your wallet." Nathan stepped closer to emphasize his point. The other boys tightened their circle.

Dallas reached for his switchblade again. He was well aware of the irony of this situation. Here he was, one of the worst hoods, protecting a soc from some hoods just like him. And he had done the same thing many times before to other socs. But this time he had to be on the soc side. He flicked his blade out for all to see, no hiding it now.

"We're not giving you anything."

The gang stared at the knife. Dallas could almost see their thoughts racing. They didn't want to use their own blades and risk an injury to themselves, but they didn't want to give this up either. But they were four strong against only two. If they could get the knife from Dal, they would be able to win easily and get the money.

The gang started forward. Dallas and Jason tensed at the movement, and they got into ready positions. The gang was smart, knowing two in front and two in behind would give them an even better chance to grab the knife and get the money. The only thing they had forgotten was that Dallas Winston was a hood himself; he would be able to hold onto his knife.

The gang almost casually took another step closer. This was what they loved, they would've been disappointed if Dallas and Jason had just given up easily. They lived and breathed for fights. A final breath of silence as everybody tensed for the showdown-

"What's happening right here, I wonder?" the voice stopped the boys in their tracks. A police car had driven up during the confrontation. The cop was out and observing the boys almost in amusement.

The gang immediately backed up, all of them glancing innocently around the parking lot. Jason openly grinned at the cop.

"Now, boys," the officer continued, "I can arrest anybody for disturbing the peace, and sometimes I just have this urge to do so. I can hold you for quite a few days because of that. And none of you, I know, want to miss the rodeo." All four boys glared at him. The officer gave a smile and went on, "So, before I give in to my urge, why don't y'all get on out of here?" He motioned with his hand.

The gang just kept glaring at him, but then Nathan finally jerked his head and they slowly left. As Cliff passed Dallas, Dal murmured in a low voice, "Anybody asks, you don't know me."

Cliff looked at him curiously. "I heard some rumors about Tulsa." He nodded confirmation to Dal's statement. "See ya around, okay?"

Dallas nodded back to him.

Jason watched the gang leave, then turned to the cop. "Well, perfect timing as usual, Mr. Roberts."

"You all right, Jason?" After Jason assured him he was, Roberts turned his attention to Dallas. "I don't recall seeing you before."

Dal raised an eyebrow. When it was obvious he wasn't going to say anything, Jason spoke for him. "This is Da-" Dallas kicked him hard in the shins. Jason gave a glare at Dallas, and Dal gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head in response. Jason caught the message and acted to cover his unknowing slip. "This is Dad's nephew, my cousin."

"You have a name?" Roberts inquired further.

Winston finally spoke up. "Yeah, Matthews," he racked his brain, "Keith Matthews."

"You going to be in town long, Keith?" the cop asked, looking 'Keith' over a little doubtfully. Despite Jason's nice clothes, which he had been wearing ever since he had gone to the house, his being beyond repair, he was still distinctly greaser.

"A couple weeks," Dal shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. The two boys walked over to their car; Jason unlocked the doors and they got in.

"Tell your dad hi for me, Jason. And don't forget to take your cousin to the rodeo," Roberts called out to them.

Jason grinned. "Don't worry, we won't." He started the car and they zoomed out of the parking lot.

.....

"Well, looks like you got your knife back." Jason commented as he drove.

Dallas took the blade out of his pocket and looked at it. "Yep. You still should've given it back to me, though." He absentmindedly rubbed the handle with his thumb as he gazed out the window. His mind was replaying what happened in the parking lot.

"What rodeo was he talking about?"

Jason answered distractedly as he kept his attention on the traffic-filled road. "It's the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo. Held every year."

"Prison rodeo?"

"Yeah, the rodeo is held in the prison and the prisoners do the rodeo. It's pretty cool, nobody wants to miss the rodeo, so Roberts used that against those hoods back there."

Jason paused for a moment and you could tell there was something he wanted to say, but wasn't quite sure how. "So...you're a hood." He finally said.

Dallas stared at him, debating whether to deny it or not. It was already obvious that he was. "Yeah, surprised?"

Jason shook his head. "No." After seeing Dallas's disbelieving look he elaborated. "Come on, you really think I would have a stranger in my house without knowing something about them. My parents yes, they took you in no questions asked. But I'm not that trusting. I figured out you were a hood."

A few seconds of silence, then Jason spoke up in puzzlement. "Dallas, that guy that knew you, Cliff, even after he recognized you he was still ready to fight you. And then when they left, you two talked like you were buddies. That doesn't make sense."

"It does if you're a hood." Dallas struggled to find words to describe the actions of hoods. "We could beat each other to a pulp today, and tomorrow we'd be there to protect the other guy's back. Just the way it is with us hoods."

They pulled up in the driveway. Jason unbuckled his seat belt, but Dallas stopped him from getting out.

"Don't tell your parents."

"That you're a hood? They've probably guessed that by now."

"But I don't want it confirmed for them." He didn't want them to know a hood had recognized him back there.

"I have to tell them, Dallas. It wouldn't be right not to, now that-" he glanced at the blade.

Dal stared for a few seconds at the blade. "You don't tell your parents..." He looked at the blade one more time, but his mind was made up. He reached over and slapped it into Jason's hand, "and you can keep it until I leave."

Jason stared at the blade in his hand. Then his hand wrapped into a fist around it. He nodded to Dallas. They both got out of the car and headed to the house.

............

Dallas bolted upright. The noise had come from the kitchen. It was early morning. He had stayed up the entire night, having memorized his room exactly and playing hundreds of games of checkers against himself. And now was the first time he had heard anything out of the rest of the house.

He walked out of his bedroom and went into the kitchen. He didn't know what he was going to find, and was prepared to deal with a robber, or a wild animal. To his surprise, Lisa and Lori were in there, Lori rattling the pots and pans looking for a specific one. Lisa was getting out some eggs. She looked up when Dallas came in.

"Well, hey Dallas. You're up early."

"Up early? You're going to wake up the whole house with that racket."

"Aha! Found it." Lori finished rattling the pans as she pulled out the one she wanted.

"What are y'all doing?" Dallas asked, puzzled.

"We are making a birthday cake for Carly. It's easier when she's sleeping, that way she can't bother us, and we can hide it from her until this afternoon," Lisa answered.

"You want to help us?" Lori asked with a smile.

Dallas raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, right." He turned to Lisa, an idea popping in his head. "Can I use your phone?"

"Depends, who are you going to call?" They had finished putting the ingredients in the bowl and now she was stirring it up with a wooden spoon.

"My dad, I...I want to tell him sorry about my bad grades at school and my running out." He hoped the lie was believable; it was hard to be very convincing at 5 in the morning.

"Yeah sure, use the one in the den."

Dallas walked into the den and picked up the phone. He paused, flexing his hand. Then he quickly dialed the number before he lost his courage.

The phone rang twice before somebody answered it. "Hello?" It was Soda.

Dallas forced his voice to remain normal. "Hello, Dad," he said for the benefit of the ladies in the kitchen.

"Dad?" Soda's puzzled voice came over the line. "I think you have the wrong-oh...Dallas! Is that you?"

"It's me."

"You all right?"

"Yeah I'm fine," his pulse quickened as he said the next words, "How's Ponyboy?"

"He's going to be fine! He woke up this morning!" Soda laughed.

Dallas let out his breath with a whoosh. "That's good."

There was a loud bang on the other end of the line and voices were heard.

"Hey, Soda who you on the phone with?" Steve's voice was unmistakable.

"Dallas."

A pause, and then Dallas could hear the two boys rushing over to the phone.

"You tell that Dallas he better have my knife or I'm coming after him." Two-Bit commanded Soda, who knew Dal had already heard it.

Dallas laughed; his first real laugh since the church had caught fire. "Two-Bit, I'll give it to you first thing when I come back. You really helped me out here. I met a cop and he wanted my name, so I gave him yours. Hope you don't mind."

"You gave a cop my name? Winston are you crazy?"

"You already have so many cops keeping an eye on you; I figured one more wouldn't make a difference."

"Ha, ha." Two Bit replied, then some muffled shuffling and Steve's voice came over.

"Where are you Dal?"

He paused, wondering if he should. "No, I shouldn't tell you. Police come over yet?"

"You bet they have. They told Darry to call them as soon as Ponyboy woke up; he hasn't yet."

"What've y'all told them?"

"The fuzz? For once we told them the truth; we had no idea." Steve laughed at the ridiculousness off telling the fuzz the truth.

Dallas talked with the gang for a while, the others taking turns, Darry coming and joining in. It was so good to hear their voices again; it reassured him that they didn't hate him. The gang still wanted him. Darry's message had said that, but Dallas needed more confirmation. And hearing them was giving it to him.

But after a while, he knew it was time to hang up; he didn't want the family mad at his phone bill. "Well, I gotta go."

Darry was on the line this time and he had one last question. "When are you coming back?"

Dallas rolled his eyes. "Well the dad, Brian, says in a couple of weeks. I think he just wants to make sure I'm fine. But I met up with an old friend, Cliff, and I think he can help me get a car-"

"No!" Darrel's sharp voice interrupted him. "You aren't going to do anything else illegal. You understand? You're in enough trouble. You understand me?" He asked impatiently.

Dal sighed, he usually didn't take orders, but Darry deserved to be ordering him around after all that he had put them through. "Yeah, I understand."

"Good." They said their goodbyes, the others included, and then they hung up.

Dallas hung up his phone. Well, it looked like he was actually going to stay here for the next two weeks. He couldn't steal a car and now that he had met that gang, it could've been so easy. Well, all he had to do was stay out of trouble. He'd been doing great so far, the rest would be easy. Yeah, right.

* * *

Okay, this chapter's up. Not really an awe-inspiring one, but a necessary for the story. Once again, reality is going to intervene from now on, and updates might not be as quick. They should be as steady, I won't take a break for months or something, but it might be a little longer between chapters. I apologize for this, but it's not something I can really control. 

Tensleep- One of my faithful reviewers. Thanks for being the first one to review! I hate to shop too, it's such a pain. Thanks for your encouragement. I'm glad you understood why I didn't write on my vacation. And you do it too! That makes me feel better. =) Seriously, thanks for all your kind words. Hope you like this one!

CinderBrat- Well, I'm glad I was historically accurate about the doll. The doll your mother has should be a compliment; you said it was really cute. =) I sort of talk like my characters; I don't think I talk like a hood, though. So hopefully I'm close to how they talk. Hey, I don't mind, you go right ahead and get that bumper sticker! **: ) **Thanks for the review!

Jessie13- You got your wish, I updated. I'm glad you liked the other chapter, and hopefully this one is okay!

ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies- Don't take that tone with me ERMonkey! =) Kidding. It tells me people are out there reading this story, and that makes me feel good. Thanks for the review!

Beth- Thank you so, so much for putting me on your favorite authors list! Well-plotted, well thank you! I'm honored that you have such confidence in me that you think I'll make you cry sometime in the story. Well, they were none of your guesses, but who would guess Cliff Anderson? You've never even heard of him! Well, Dallas didn't give Carly the dog in this chapter, but maybe in the next. =) Thanks for your review! For all your reviews!

Jaws- Thank you for taking the time to review my story. And, oh my! Wow! I'm on your favorite stories and author page! I'm so honored! Thank you very, very much!!!

steves-girl- Sorry, sorry! I didn't update very quickly, I know, and I'm sorry I kept you on a cliffhanger. And the stretched between updates will probably be getting longer! I'm sorry! =) Thanks for your review, I hope this was worth the wait!!

Robot In Disguise- A crush on Dal? Well, if you were eight years old and strange boy started living in your house, wouldn't you develop a crush? But yeah, I think she likes him. Sleepy eye dolls, is that what they're called? Learn something new every day. And yes, you really helped me out with that information, as you can see a little bit from this chapter. Thanks again!

MissLKid- Ahh, you don't like getting something for your little sister? Well, I hate shopping and picking out stuff too, so I can see where you're coming from. Thanks for your review. Hope this wasn't too long of a wait for you!

nighttime writer- I'm so happy I inspired you to write! I think you're right, a little love is coming through, not much, but a little. Thank you for thinking so well of this story to put me on author alert. That's so sweet! Sorry I left the story on the cliffhanger, but doesn't everybody like cliffs? =) Thanks for the review and your putting me on author alert!

Grease Girl- Well, you found out. Did you like it? No? Yes? This update was pretty much as soon as possible as I could get it. I had a little writer's block at one part, and I wasn't going to budge from that spot until I had written it. So a couple of days later, when I had time to sit down and write for longer than five minutes, I finished that part up. Thanks for your review! Hope you like it. Please review again and tell me what you think!

.......(from here 'til the next.... it's crimson cutie's reply. I had to break it up into paragraphs. Hope I don't confuse any people.)

crimson cutie- Wait. Just let me savor this moment. Ahh, another long review. Wow. But you've been reading this from day one, and only now you're giving me the joy of a long review?! But I know what you mean. Sometimes, you don't want to review too early, and then have the story go downhill from there. Makes you feel like you wasted a review. And that long of a review makes up for those other chapters you didn't review!

I guess I have made him softer than the book, but I've always thought that if you make yourself so hard, and you build up your defenses as hard as Dally did, you're trying to hide a very sensitive soul underneath. And when those defenses come crashing down, no matter how hard you try, it'll take time before you can build them up all the way again, and your soft self comes through. At least that's my way of thinking. You can tell me if you disagree.

Yeah, the rest of the gang probably wouldn't have had a clue about the phone call. I don't know if Brian will find out. Jason? He could begin to connect the dots, he has a lot of the dots, not all but a lot. Oh, yeah, I think Lisa has learned her lesson. Dallas isn't what you would call a very sociable person. =) You got your answer about Dal finding out about Pony. Funny, I thought since Pony is so smart and Dar makes him go to school all the time, he would try very hard not to get sick. And then he's in good condition because of track. But I don't own the book, so I'm basing this whole story on memory and asking some other authors questions. If you could send me an e-mail I would love to hear your opinions about Pony and about Dallas being soft. That goes for everybody. I love reviews and e-mails!

Hey, you're a good guesser! Yeah, they were pretty much just hoods who knew Dallas's reputation. Cliff knew him from a few years ago, but all the others just knew him on word of mouth. Oh, yes Dal is wearing Jason's clothes. I forgot to mention that in other chapters, so I put it in here. Thanks for letting me know I left that detail out. Man, I wrote a chapter here, didn't I? But I couldn't help it; you're review was so long! And you had all these things to say, they made me feel so good! Thank you so, so much for that review! I hope you like this chapter.

.........

Okay, guys, I think you know by now what I'm going to say. Review! I love reviews! Thanks for reading, and have a great day!


	8. Chapter 8

_Ponyboy's okay. He is really okay!_ He had heard it over the phone, but somehow it was still unreal to him. He needed to see with his own eyes that Pony wasn't dead. But Darry had advised him not to come back early. And, Dallas had to admit that it was pretty sound advice.

But he had wanted to go back for what seemed so long, and he needed to go back. But now that he finally had a chance to actually get away, he just had to be given some good advice!

_Why don't I just ignore the advice? Not like I listen to people anyway. Darry should know that by now. _Yeah, he should ignore it. He should. Dallas Winston didn't listen to anybody. _But, I've put Darry through so much already, with his little brother disappearing for a whole week, and then coming back sick, maybe dying. I can't just up and ignore him_. Darry was already allowing Dallas to come back. He shouldn't press his luck any further.

"Hey Dallas, you finished with your call yet?" Lori peered in through the doorway at him.

Dallas instinctively got up out of his chair and headed out the room. "Yes," he muttered distractedly, his mind still racing through his thoughts.

"Was your dad mad?" she asked as he headed to the kitchen.

"My dad?" he repeated, not fully comprehending as he walked into the kitchen. "Oh. No, he-he was just glad that I was all right. And he was hoping that I could come home soon," he added subtly.

Jason was in the kitchen, hurriedly gulping down a quick breakfast. He had heard Lori's question, and Dallas's answer, and now he asked, "What would your dad be mad at you about?"

Lori answered for Dallas, "Oh, Dallas got into an argument with his father over his grades in school, and he went for a drive to cool down, got in an accident, and that's how he ended up here."

Jason snorted, and gazed at Dallas in amused disbelief. "You got in a fight with your father over grades?"

Dallas, for his part, was leaning against the counter, with a can of Pepsi in his hand. It seemed the Mathews family was as addicted to Pepsi as Ponyboy was. He stared back at Jason and answered, "What? You find that hard to believe?"

Jace silently laughed into his cup of coffee. "Oh no, I can totally see you upset over your grades."

Dallas silently agreed with Jason's sarcasm; it was hard to believe that he would care about grades. "I wasn't interested in the grades. My dad was."

Jason nodded as if that explained everything, but it was obvious he didn't believe a word of the story. Lori looked at him, baffled.

"You don't believe him Jason?"

Jason held up his hands in denial. "I just don't think he would get so upset about his grades, that's all." He gathered his dishes and walked over to put them on the counter. Standing only a few feet away from Dal he whispered, "I just think you would be able to come up with a better excuse than that."

Dallas glanced at him quizzically and opened his mouth to argue, but Jason cut him off. "Well, I got to get going. See ya this afternoon, Mom!"

"Bye Jason!" Lisa called as Jason sprinted to the door.

"Where's he going in such a hurry?" Dallas asked as he finished up his Pepsi.

"Baseball practice," Lori supplied as she started getting things out for breakfast.

Dallas rolled his eyes. _That figures_. "So, is Jason the _star_ of the team?" Of course he would be. The socs had to be the stars of everything.

Lori shrugged her shoulders. "Well, the team's pretty good, so I guess you couldn't call him the star. He is a pretty good short stop, and he bats number four. So he's pretty important to the team."

"Number four? Is that good?"

Lisa turned to stare at him. "Is that good?! Number four batter is the best batter of the entire team!" Her voice took on an edge as she defended her little boy.

Dallas's voice took on a sarcastic tone. "Yeah, I should know that. My life just revolves around the high school baseball team." As he walked out of the room, he tossed his can into the trash.

Lori glanced over at her mom. The two women shared a smile, and Lori rolled her eyes in amusement.

* * *

"Hey, can I come in?" Lori's voice filtered through the doorway.

Dallas rolled his eyes in annoyance. He ignored her and went back to putting on his socks.

There were a few minutes of silence, and then Lori opened the door. She came in and stood awkwardly at the foot of the bed, watching Dallas.

"So, putting on your socks?" she asked lightly.

"My, you're observant," Dallas mocked as he walked over and got his shoes from the closet.

Lori sighed, but didn't respond to Dallas's remark. "Jason said you bought something for Carly. That was nice of you."

"Wasn't my idea."

"Well, still you bought something. That counts." She smiled at him. After another moment of silence she continued, "I brought you some stuff for you to wrap it with." She held up a sack filled with tissue paper and ribbons.

Dallas finished lacing up his shoes and stood up. "Hey, I already bought the stupid thing, I don't have to wrap it."

"Oh yes you do," she responded, throwing the bag to Dal. Dal caught it and threw it on the bed. Lori stared him down for a second, then tossed her head.

"Fine. I'll wrap it. You at least picked it out, that's something." She walked over to the bed. "What'd you get her?"

Dallas walked over to the dresser and pulled the top drawer open. He picked up the dog and tossed it to Lori.

"Awww, he's so adorable. Look at him," she cooed. Dallas rolled his eyes as he walked out the door. Lori saw him leave and flew out of the room.

"Where are you going?" she asked him as he made his way to the front door.

"I'm going for a walk. Is that all right with you?"

"I'll go with you."

Dallas stopped and looked at her. Lori's green eyes sparkled in mirth, which he was pretty sure was directed at him. He wanted to tell her off, but he knew that to stay in the family's good graces he had to keep himself under control. He walked out the door and down the sidewalk.

Lori fell into step with him. "So, what do you want me to put on the card?"

"The card?" Dal questioned.

"Yeah, the card. You know that little piece of paper that tells the person how much you love them and wish them a happy birthday."

Dallas raised an eyebrow. "You want me to give your sister a card that says how much I love her?"

Lori grimaced. "No, to tell her happy birthday."

"Forget it."

"Come on. You don't even have to write it; just tell me what you want it to say."

Dallas kicked a rock. "Fine. Make it say.. to: the kid, from Dallas. Satisfied?" he started across the street. Lori grabbed his arm, checked both ways, then released him as they both walked across.

She picked up the conversation as they started up the next street. "To the kid? That's what you want it to say?"

"No, I don't care what it says. You put what you want." He picked up his pace to outdistance himself from her, keeping his eyes peeled for the slightest hint of some hoods. Even though he wasn't going to steal a car, it was always good to know where your possible allies could be found.

Lori ran to catch up with Dallas. As she caught up, Dallas flung a question at her. "Look, why are you following me around? Your mom gave us the day off because of Carly's birthday; you should be out doing whatever it is that you girls do. Why are you out walking with me?"

"Jason," she answered simply.

"Excuse me?"

"Jason," she repeated. "Last night when you came home from getting Carly's present he asked me to keep an eye on you while he was gone."

Jason, should have known. "And you think that means hounding every single step I take?"

Lori responded, "Jason specifically said to stick with you whenever you left the house. So that's what I'm doing. Sounds kind of strange doesn't it? Like he thinks you are going to run away or something." She laughed at the idea. "How could you run away with your ribs in the condition they're in."

Dallas found the last remark more irritating than the fact that Jason had his sister trail him. "For your information I could leave this place anytime I wanted. My ribs are in perfect condition."

Lori glanced at him skeptically, opened her mouth to say something, and then just rolled her eyes.

He took that as a challenge. "What, I can walk can't I?" he held out his arms to show off his steps.

"Yeah, sure you can walk. That doesn't prove anything."

"Yes it does," Dal insisted, "I'm perfectly fine now. Your dad should let me leave right now, instead of waiting for two whole weeks for me to get better. I'm fi-"

Lori took her hand and smacked him in the gut. Dallas stiffened and pressed his lips tightly together.

"Bet you that hurt," Lori smiled. "It helps having a father for a doctor; you know the exact spot in which to hit someone to cause them the most pain." She walked on, her shoulders shaking in laughter.

Dallas stood there, all his efforts focused on his mask. No pain on face, no pain in body movement. This didn't hurt. His mind insisted that, but his body screamed otherwise. All he wanted to do was to curl up around his injury and collapse on the pavement. But Winston had a quite a bit of pride and a whole bit of stubbornness. He took a step, and let his breath out in even, unhurried breaths.

Lori stood there, shaking her head disbelievingly at him. Dallas couldn't resist; he gave her a big smirk as he walked on by.

* * *

Lisa and Brian were bustling around the kitchen, making more noise than Lori and Lisa had earlier that day. Pots were clattering, water was steaming, and above all else you heard Lisa yelling.

"Carly! Come on, dinner's almost ready, dear! You'll miss your stew, your favorite, if you don't hurry. Now, come on!"

Dallas was in the kitchen watching them. From the moment Lori and he had gotten home, he hadn't moved very much. He had sat on the couch, devoting himself to the tv, and then to beating Carly at checkers, but there hadn't been that much movement after the morning walk.

He was growing tired of listening to the hustle and bustle of the kitchen, so he left. Lisa warned him on his way out though, to not be late for supper also. As he made his way to his bedroom to get some much needed quiet, he passed Carly in the hall. She was staring intently at herself in the hall mirror, and fiddling with her face.

It was the weird fiddling that made Dallas stop in his tracks. "What _are_ you doing?" he asked.

Carly jumped. After seeing Dallas, she giggled nervously.

Dallas waited for the answer. "What are you doing?" he asked again.

She giggled, and her cheeks reddened. "I w-w-was trying to raise my eyebrow, like you do Dallas! Can you teach me?" she added hopefully.

"Raise your eyebrow?" he repeated, confused.

"Yeah," she turned back to the mirror, "you always raise one eyebrow, and I– can't – do – it," she raised and lowered her eyebrows, hands up to keep one of them down.

"Carly, dinner!" Lisa's voice snapped from the kitchen.

"Coming, Mom!" Carly ran over to the dining room.

Dallas sighed. _Well, so much for my peace and quiet._ He turned to go to the dining room, but paused and glanced in at the mirror. He stared at himself, and slowly raised an eyebrow. _She can't do that? That's easy!_

"Presents!" Carly exclaimed, "Everybody in the living room for presents!!"

Everyone followed Carly's command and got up and made their way to the living room. As they walked, Dallas stepped to Jason's side.

"You had your sister follow me around?" he whispered fiercely.

Jason didn't bat an eye. "Of course. I told you in the car I didn't trust you."

They walked into the room, and sat down next to each other on the couch. "But I gave you my knife. You can trust me now."

"Just because I have your knife doesn't mean you can't get one somewhere else," Jason whispered back. He kept his attention on Carly who was excitedly tearing through present after present.

Dal digested that for a moment. "So you thought that I would try to find those hoods, didn't you?"

"If sis hadn't followed you, would you have looked for your friends?"

Dallas didn't answer, and finally Jason glanced at him. He nodded and turned back to Carly, who was now squealing over another present.

"Oh, look at this one! Where's the card? Oh, here it is. To the kid, from Dallas," Dallas shot Lori a death glare. Lori just smiled innocently. "Oh, Dallas I knew you would get me something, I just knew it! I told you Mom!"

She ripped the tissue paper out of the bag and dug her hands deep into the sack, clawing to get to the contents. She pulled the little dog out with a squeal. "It's so cute!!! Aww, I love it!" She wrapped her arms around it and held it close to her chest.

Dallas felt a peculiar surge of pride; Carly liked _his_ present better than all the others. That would show them. He crossed his arms, leaned back on the couch, and put his legs up on the coffee table.

Carly finished hugging the dog and held him up for a closer inspection. "I think I'm going to name him...Tex. Yeah, Tex." She nodded in appreciation of the name.

Lisa leaned forward out of her chair and picked up the dog. "Why Tex sweety?"

Carly huffed as if it was obvious. "Mom, Dallas gave it to me." After all of them looked at her strangely she went on to explain, "Tex, Texas. Dallas, Texas. Come on, people!" She snatched her dog back from Lisa and ran over to Dallas.

She hopped on the couch and immediately wrapped her arms around Dallas's neck. Dallas abruptly sat up, his feet off the table. The hug caught him off guard, and for a moment he was completely shocked. But before the shock had time to wear off and he could push her away, Carly let go and walked back to her pile of present and tore into the next one.

Dallas sat frozen, his face registering his astonishment. Jason watched him, and a big grin spread across his face. Dal felt him watching, and he schooled his features back to calm. He turned around to glare at him. Jason grinned even wider, and he crossed his arms and put his feet on the table, mimicking Dallas from just a few minutes before.

Dallas glared at him, and a gleam crept into his eyes. Raising his hand he whacked Jason in the gut, causing Jason to lean forward gasping for breath. Dal gazed over at Lori who sat watching them in amusement. She gave him a sly smile, and he leaned back coolly, even as Jason whacked him right back, causing him to take stifle a groan of his own.

* * *

A week and a day! I'm so sorry, I meant for this to be up in five days, but it's not like I didn't warn you. And now I need to give you a big thank you! Sixty reviews! That is incredible! I am so...so honored and shocked and extremely happy! Thank you, thank you!!!

Well, won't let me put the ..... into the story so I have to stick wit the . Sorry about that.

Okay, in answer to a question, I think the day that Dallas called Darry was on a Tuesday. I don't have the book, so please correct me if I'm wrong. But didn't Darry in the book say that Pony fainted on a Saturday and now it's Tuesday? Or something like that. Again, please tell me if I'm wrong. I need to know that!

ER Monkey, Burner of Cookies- And the honor of first reviewer goes to...you! Thanks for the review. And yes, you definitely have a tone. But thanks anyway for the review! =)

Jessie13- I'm glad you liked the chapter. Dallas was pretty funny giving the cop Two-Bit's name. You never know when knowing somebody's name could come in handy. Thanks for the review!

Beth- Thanks for your reviews and e-mails. They help me out so much. Yeah, I thought having an original character would be different than other stories. Your story is great, and I know other people are enjoying reading them too. I hope you continue writing your stories. They're wonderful! Thanks for pointing out those things I forgot in the last chapter. Oops...=)

CinderBrat- Well, I don't know if I've ever seen a 1966 Triumph 20, but if it has that bumper sticker on it, I'm sure it's lovely! =) I'm sorry it wasn't Tim, but I never thought of it being him. Thank you for that compliment. I know what you mean; some stories he breaks down so fast you don't even need more than one chapter, and then those others you finally just stop reading. I hope I stay at the right pace, please tell me if you think I'm rushing, because I don't think I'm taking that long. He is starting to slowly crumble, just like a cookie, you're right! Never thought about it that way. You know, I just realized something. For me, naming my characters is the hardest part. I have to go on the Internet for a list of popular names to try to find names that are believable. And I think I Cliff's last name, Anderson, is the same as Randy. Oops! Don't tell anybody, please!!!

bitterspirit- Aw, that's okay, as long as you review after this. =) Really, thanks for the review. You really think I've kept the closest to his character? That's so cool! Yeah, I liked how he stood up for Jason too. Yep, I bet Carly has a crush on him. But she would be a fool not to, right? Yes, I don't like authors who take forever to give the details. I must confess, I just scroll on down to get to the action. I'm thrilled you like my style. That's a big compliment for an author. Oh, man! Whoa!! That is...one mighty big compliment. In the top three of your favorite stories on _all_ of !! Oh, boy! Thank you so much!!! I pray I don't let you down! =) And thanks for being understanding about me not updating soon. I appreciate that as well!

CiCi- Oh, that's okay. I hope your computer is okay now. I'm so happy that you liked it! Thanks for the review! =)

steves-girl- I'm glad you think it was worth the wait. I hope your trouble of getting on the computer is over now. =) Thanks for taking the time to review all the chapters! That is amazing! Thank you so much, you have really contributed to getting this story to sixty reviews. Sixty reviews, can you imagine? I'm still having trouble believing it myself.

Tensleep- another person who has reviewed every single chapter! You two guys are amazing. Thank you. Man, I'm so glad you thought Dallas's description of hoods was okay, that was a little scary. I didn't want to write a description that some people would say was totally wrong. Yeah, I wanted to wait until the right moment to use Two-Bit's name. I hope you didn't get frustrated with me. Hope you had fun doing your chores! =) Thanks for all your reviews!

Oblivious Misconception- Wow, thanks for the review! Well, the funny thing is, I completely agree with you. I don't read stories that have too many original characters, and here I am writing an entire family! Man, thanks for those compliments! And I'm very glad you think I've kept him in character, I've tried very hard to keep him as close as possible. It does seem that Jason is looking out for Dallas. And he does know some pretty bad things about Dallas, without knowing the good things. Thank you for that compliment about Darry's phone number. You almost made me sound like an artist, weird huh? I can't draw a stick figure to save my life! Anyway, thank you so much for that review! Oh, question: what made you come back to this story? Because you said you skipped over it before, I wonder what made you start reading it? Thanks again!

crimson cutie- Thanks for reviewing again! And if you don't like reviewing as you said, than this review means twice as much! So thanks! Yes, you were right about the hoods; I told you you were a good guesser. Oh no, Dallas didn't try to cover up his attitude one bit. Yes, you're right, Dallas wouldn't normally take anybody's advice. But I think he feels guilty for putting the gang through so much, that he is so grateful they don't hate him, he'll take their advice. At least for the time being. Thank you for taking the time to write that review. You keep me on my toes, trying to fix those little mistakes you help point out. Thanks for doing that!

MissLKid- Ahah, I see. Yeah, she could probably get very annoying. But deep in your heart, you know you love her. Right? Right? Sure. Well, the rodeo is actually a true thing. I got that information from Robot In Disguise. McAlester has a prison, McAlester Prison, and they do have an all-prison rodeo. So it is factual. Thanks for the review!

Robot In Disguise- You didn't see it coming? That's funny! Okay, Soda said that Pony woke up that morning. Steve said, let me get the right wording here, "They told Darry to call them as soon as Ponyboy woke up; he hasn't yet." The he Steve is referring to is Darry. Darry hasn't called the cops yet. He's showing some defiance against the fuzz. But you're right it is confusing. I need to go and change that. Thanks for alerting me to that!!

Thanks everybody for all your reviews. I can't believe it. Thank you so, so, so, much!!! I love you guys. I feel kind of guilty saying it now, but please review. I know, I know, sixty reviews, I should be satisfied already. But I'm addicted. I need to know what you think of my chapters. So please review! And thank you so much! Have a great day!


	9. Chapter 9

"Okay, guys, we're here." Brian called as he got out of the car.

The family followed his lead and got out, Dallas pushing Carly to get out faster. When everybody was out, the group walked over to the entrance of the prison. The high, white-wash walls would have deterred even the bravest of men on any other day, but with the big _Welcome to the McAlester Prison Rodeo_ sign hanging between the two towers, it gave an appealing feel that seemed to draw everybody inside.

Indeed, already tons of people were walking through the gate and into the prison itself. The Mathews and Dallas trekked up to the entrance and showed their tickets, went through a security check, and then were admitted into the grandstands surrounding the arena.

Dallas gazed at everything, his senses taking it all in. After a whole week in a strange environment, with a strange family, the scene around him was intoxicating. Finally he was again in his element. He took a deep breath, absorbing even the air as inwardly some muscles relaxed after having been tensed from the moment he had robbed the store.

"Momma, I gotta go the restroom," Carly pleaded, tugging at her mother's hand.

Lisa sighed. "Well, it's better to go before than in the middle. Come on." She took Carly's hand as they threaded their way through the throng. After having only gone a few steps she turned and asked, "Anybody else need to go?"

Lori nodded and joined the girls.

"Females," Jason sighed in mock exasperation. When Brian also moved to join them, he added with a shake of his head, "And fathers."

The quartet of three girls and one man wandered off in search of the restrooms, leaving Jason and Dallas stranded in the middle of the crowd. Jason turned to Dallas.

"Well, we better go find some seats. All the good ones will be taken pretty fast." Dallas nodded and followed Mathews as he walked down to the bottom seats.

There was a crowd and they couldn't find seats at the bottom so they started working their way back up. As they climbed the steps, Dal heard a familiar voice off to the side. Turning around, he recognized Cliff encircled by his gang and several other boys.

Dal wanted to talk with Cliff; no matter what Darry said, he still needed to at least be on speaking terms with some potential allies. But he couldn't do it with Jason around. Jason was always there to louse everything up.

"Here we are," Jason said as he turned into the aisle of the sixth level seats. "Hey, the best seats we've had yet!"

Dallas sat down, but watched Cliff and the gang out of the corner of his eye. If only Jason would leave for one second, this was the perfect opportunity!

"Hey Jace!" The voice sounded right behind Dallas, and Dal's muscles tightened, but thankfully he didn't jump.

"Will, I knew you'd be here," Jason replied as he shook the youth's hand. "Where're your parents?"

"Aww, over there some place." Will pointed, and Dal looked at who he was pointing to. Surprised, he saw Mr. Roberts along with a pretty woman sitting in the seats Will was gesturing to.

"Your dad's Roberts?" he asked Will, who had now sat down in the seat behind Jason.

"Yeah," Will looked puzzled, "Who're- ohh, yeah, my dad told me about you."

There was a quick exchange of looks between him and Dal, but Jason interrupted eagerly. "What've you been doing? I haven't seen you since you left for California last week to see your grandparents."

"Oh, man, you would love it out there. Mind you, there are some strange people, but there are strange people everywhere, so..." Will droned on, and Dallas, seeing how attentive Jason was, realized his chance.

Quietly slipping from his seat, he made his way down to where the hoods were. He neatly and inconspicuously joined the tight circle; once a hood, always a hood. It wasn't until a few minutes later, when Cliff happened to glance in his direction was he even noticed.

"Dallas, when'd you get here?" his voice was friendly enough, but the attitudes of the people surrounding him instantly hardened.

"A few minutes ago," he replied to Cliff, but he kept his attention fixed on the other hoods. Obviously the others knew about his confrontation with the gang.

"Where's your little puppy dog?" Nathan jeered at him. "I thought you would be carrying it around everywhere."

"Lay off Nate," Cliff cut in, "I told you before; Dallas is a hood through and through. And if he's staying with a soc, he's got a good reason for it."

Nathan did lay off, and for several minutes Dallas was ignored as other hoods started talking. Once the other conversations had gotten going, Dallas made eye contact with Cliff and jerked his head. Cliff understood the message, and a minute later both were outside the circle of hoods.

They walked away. Once they were out of hearing distance, Cliff turned to Dallas.

"Why _are_ you hanging out with a soc?"

So Dallas told him. Not every minute detail, just the main facts. He could trust Cliff; they had known each other for several years. But if it turned out he couldn't trust him, well, he knew some information that Cliff wouldn't want leaked to the police.

"You've been living with a soc family for a week?" he exclaimed once Dal had finished his story. "Boy, you're one brave fellow. I couldn't have done it.

"Hey, after the rodeo, we're going to go off and..." Cliff left the sentence hanging; Dallas knew what they were going to do, no sense in broadcasting to the world. "You can come if you want."

Ohh, man. After spending a week with the Mathews, Dallas hadn't had one chance to go off on his own or be with people like him. And now he had the chance to take off with some hoods just like him.

"Yeah, man that'd be-"

"There you are." Lori walked over to the two boys, a smile on her face. "We've been looking for you everywhere."

"I've been right here," Dallas, annoyed, responded.

"Well, come on back then. It's about to start, and we can't save your seat forever." She noticed Cliff just then and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Lori. I don't believe we've been introduced."

"Cliff," he said as he cautiously took her hand. If he hadn't been so mad at Lori, Dallas would have laughed at the expression on Cliff's face.

"Nice to meet you, Cliff," she turned back to Dallas. "You coming?"

"In a second."

Lori nodded and left to join her family. Dal opened his mouth to defend himself, but Cliff interrupted.

"I know, man. You need to keep up this charade. I'll see you later, okay?" Cliff left and walked back to his huddle of friends.

* * *

"Look at them go, Lori! Look at them!" Carly was sitting in Lori's lap bouncing up and down. She had her own seat, but the people in front were too tall for her to see past them into the arena.

"I see them."

"Are all these guys prisoners?" Dallas couldn't stop himself from asking.

Lori leaned over and yelled close to Dal's ear to make herself heard above the roar of the crowd. "No, about half of them are professionals. But all the others are. This is the biggest prison rodeo in the United States."

"Lori?" Carly twisted her head around to look at her sister. "I'm thirsty."

"Sweety, I asked you if you wanted anything to drink before we came down here, and you said no."

"Well, I wasn't thirsty then. But I am now. Please?"

Lori heaved a sigh, then picked Carly up and set her on the ground. Brushing past Dallas she walked up the stands to find a concession stand.

Carly was going to sit down in Lori's seat, but Jason quickly exchanged seats and had Carly sit in his. As he was watching the calf-roping, he remarked casually, "Lori said you were talking to some guy named Cliff." He glanced over at Dallas.

"That's right," Dal responded evenly.

"What did you two talk about?" he asked carefully.

"Oh, I wanted to tell him why I was with a soc like you," he stated matter-of-factly. "You know, the accident and my injuries."

"You didn't ask for anything?" Jason wouldn't let it go.

_He wants to know if I got a knife. I can tell the truth to him for once._ "I didn't ask for anything, and he didn't give me anything."

Lori was back, holding a tray filled with cokes.

"What'd you do, buy out the entire stand just for Carly?" Jason remarked as he moved back into his seat.

"Ha-ha. You keep talking that way, and you won't get your drink." Lori retorted as she passed out the drinks, handing Dallas a Pepsi. Jason leaned down to whisper something in Carly's ear.

Lori sat down, and Carly hopped up. "Not now, I'm getting a little tired. Go try Jason," Lori grunted as she took a sip of her own drink.

Carly jumped down, and instead of turning to Jason, she turned around to jump on Dallas. Dallas, seeing her out of the corner of his eye, stuck out his arm and firmly directed her over to Jason. Carly looked back as she was climbing onto Jason's lap and stuck out her tongue. Dallas merely ignored her.

* * *

"Well, how'd you like it Dallas?" Brian asked as they walked out of the prison.

"It was...interesting," Dallas replied. The rodeo had actually been quite enjoyable, but all throughout, a nagging part of his brain couldn't help noticing that this was where he could end up if the cops ever caught up to him.

Brian laughed. "Yeah, this town goes crazy over it every year. And it's fun every time you go."

Dallas distractedly murmured agreement: his attention was focused on the tight group of hoods as they left the prison themselves. They separating, each gang going off in their own directions. Dal watched Cliff as he left with Nathan and the others. Watching them, his mind raced.

The family had reached the car when he finally made up his mind.

"Mr. Mathews, sir, I met some friends from back home while we were there," Dal was careful to call Brian sir. "And I was wondering if I could go spend the rest of the day with them, you know, catching up on old times?"

Jason was getting in the car, but when Dallas asked that question, his head snapped up. He stared at Dallas distrustfully; Dal ignored him.

Brian thought for a moment then answered, "All right, that's fine. Just be careful with those ribs, I don't want them hurt anymore." He gave a pointed glance to Lori, who gave a guilty smile.

Dallas didn't wait for Jason to have a chance to interfere. He muttered thanks, and then hurriedly made his way over to Cliff and the gang. He had been cooped up too long with that family; he needed some action. He needed to go out and do something illegal for a while. He was a hood, after all.

Dallas walked up the doorstep drenched from the pouring rain. He glanced at his watch: 2 a.m. Man, they wouldn't react well to that. He searched around for a key; he didn't want to have to wake them up. Most people had a hidden key somewhere. He checked under the welcome mat; there it was. _Amateurs._

He unlocked the door, and quietly entered. He tiptoed through the living room, and past the other bedrooms. Reaching his room, he opened the door and was met with a surprise. Jason was sitting on his bed, a book in his hand. When the door opened, he looked up and his expression hardened.

Getting off the bed, he grabbed Dallas by the arm and dragged him into the dining room. He practically shoved Dallas into a chair then took one himself.

"Now, we are going to sit down and you are going to tell me everything." Jason's voice was a barely controlled whisper.

Dallas straightened up in his chair, watching Jason struggle to control his fury. "Tell you what? I went out with my friends, I didn't get a knife if that's what you're wondering." He kept his voice at a calm, but bewildered level. He had to play it innocent.

"Hooray. That's all I wanted to know." Jason replied sarcastically, but with a definite trace of anger. "I want to know the reason you showed up at our house injured the way you were."

Dal stiffened. He couldn't tell Jason the truth or he'd have the police on him in five seconds, but if he didn't there was a great chance Jason'd call the police anyway. This was just great. _Why was Jason asking these questions_? He shook his head in anger and stood up, suddenly defensive.

"Why should I tell you? Give me one reason why I would tell you." His voice had risen until it was almost shouting.

Jason stood up, too, his body shaking in anger. His voice didn't rise one bit, only deepened in his fury. In clipped, slow tones he answered Dallas:

"I know you robbed that store."

* * *

Hey, less than a week! I'm happy. Next chapter will almost definitely be longer in coming. Sorry.

Robot In Disguise- I'm glad you understand that part now. It was a little confusing. Yes, the hitting was pretty fun. Thanks for saying you liked the development of Jason. I've been trying to make these characters seem real, and I hope the development seemed real enough. Thanks for being the first person to review.

steves-girl- Well, I hope you get your computer soon. But at least you've found a way. =) Glad you liked it!

MissLKid- My sympathies about school. It is very annoying. =) Hope you survive!

Cinderbrat- Thanks for bringing that point up. I hope my explanation satisfied you. A romance between Dally and Lori? Who knows? =}

CiCi- Thanks for the review. I can't say when or even if he's getting home. You don't want me to ruin it for you. I'm glad you liked the chapter!

Oblivious Misconception- Thanks for that review! And thank you for all those compliments! Perfect pace, well I hope so. That's very interesting. You noticed the number of reviews and then decided the story might be worth the time to read. I'm glad you thought it was. =) Beloved reviewers is right! I love each and ever review I get! What a thing to say! The continuation of the original story? I'm speechless!

Jessie13- Thanks for reviewing. Well, I try to keep Dal in character, but it is hard sometimes. He's just such a complicated character.

bitterspirit- Yeah, I liked Carly imitating Dallas with the eyebrow too. Thank you for the compliment about the pace. It means a lot! You scroll down too! That's a relief; I thought maybe I might be the only one! You read other replies to reviews? I do that to on other stories. Lori and Dallas, again, I'm not saying anything. Thanks so much for the review!

Tensleep- I'm so happy you thought that Dallas agreeing to listen to Darry was right. I was worried people might not see it that way. And you like doing those chores, I hope you get plenty more of them! =)

Scarlett7- Thanks for your review! And thanks for all the help you've given me with this story! Hope your cat's finally back to his normal self!

DaNNi BaBezZz- Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked Dallas giving Two-Bit's name. Yeah, I think he has a soft spot for Carly also. Hope you like the chapter!

Malara- Unsure about everything? That's a good way to put it! Thanks for the review, don't worry I'll definitely write more. I won't let up on this story until it's finished!

Okay, sorry, I have to hurry and go, so reviews might not be as long as normal. And once again, please review! Have an awesome day!


	10. Chapter 10

The sentence hung between the two of them, the silence almost deafening in its stillness. Dallas's thoughts raced as he stood frozen, valiantly trying to keep his expression neutral. But it was futile since his face had betrayed him the second Jason had spoken those words. His widened eyes and the tightening of his jaw had been enough confirmation for Jason.

_How does he know? What do I say? _"What store?" Dallas asked innocently.

"Cut the act Dallas. If you don't tell me what I want to know right now, I will pick up that phone and call the police." He was shaking in his rage.

Dallas crossed his arms and stared at him defiantly.

Jason took a deep breath. "Fine, then." He walked over to the phone, and dialed a number in. Dallas stood watching him, a cynical smirk on his face. _Yeah right, like he was calling the police. He didn't have the backbone._

"Hey, Will?" Jason said into the phone. Dallas straightened at that. Wasn't Will Officer Roberts's son? That could mean...

"Can I talk to your dad, Mr. Roberts?" Jason asked as he glanced at Dal. "Hello, Mr. Roberts, this is Jason. I was calling to-"

Dallas had walked over and plucked the phone out of Jason's hands and slammed it into its cradle.

Jace crossed his arms and glared at Dallas, his anger still fully evident. "Are you going to answer my questions now? Because I can easily call him back."

Dallas heaved a huge sigh, and reluctantly nodded.

"Good."

The two of them walked back to the table and took seats opposite each other. Dallas sat on the edge of his seat, his body tensed, like a tiger ready to spring at the slightest movement. After a moment's pause, Dallas spoke:

"What do you want to know?" His voice was calm, and this time his face didn't give anything away.

"Everything," Mathews said simply.

Dallas groaned, and slouched back into his chair. "Everything," he repeated.

"Okay, let's start with why did you rob that store?"

He rolled his eyes. To explain _that _he would have to explain everything. And he didn't want to explain anything, especially not to this soc.

"I felt like it."

Jason straightened in his chair; Dallas wouldn't be able to push him any further; he could see that. He opened his mouth to elaborate a little more on the robbery, when Jason snapped out his next question.

"Who's Johnny?"

Dallas flinched. His breathing quickened, and it was an effort to slow it back down. "Johnny?" he questioned, playing for time.

"Yes, Johnny. The one Carly heard you calling in your sleep, the one _I_ heard you calling in your sleep, and the one they were talking about on the radio before you turned it off." Jason looked up puzzled as he said the last part.

"That guy on the radio...he said a Johnny had helped save some kids from a fire." Jason gazed unseeingly into space as started piecing together parts of the puzzle. "And then that Pony-whatever helped him, and then they were just going to tell about the other boy when you turned it off." He stared at Dallas. "It was you wasn't it?"

Dal shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked away.

"I don't get it. First you save some kids from a fire, and then you go and rob a store?"

Dallas stared at the table, never taking his eyes off it. "Johnny died," he whispered softly.

Jason glanced at him then looked away out the window, gazing at the storm raging outside, at a loss for words. Finally he said quietly, "I'm sorry." He hesitated then, "What about that Pony kid? What happened to him?"

"He's fine." Dal got back down to business. He searched for a way to keep Jason from calling the cops on him. Yeah, him saving those kids should help, but there was still the fact that he had robbed the store.

"Listen, uh, about my robbing the store...uh," _Man, apologizing was harder than it looked,_ "I just wanted to, uh-"

Jason interrupted him. "Forget it. You don't have a gun anymore, and I took your knife. And hopefully you didn't get another one." Dallas quickly nodded confirmation. "You were upset since Johnny died. I guess that's what hoods do when they're upset. Well, the radio sure did a bad job of reporting that." The last sentence was muttered under Jason's breath, but the hood still caught it.

"What do you mean by bad job reporting?" Dal asked sharply. His ice blue eyes flashed as he lifted his gaze from the floor and onto Jason.

Jason stared right back. "Several days ago I was on my way to school and the radio said that a 'fugitive from Tulsa was believed to be heading down near the McAlester area.' It said his name was Dallas Winston, he had robbed a store, and he was believed to be armed and dangerous." Jason recited the radio's announcement easily from memory. "It conveniently left out the fact that you had saved some children from a fire, and that one of your friends had died because of that."

Another thought crossed Jason's mind. "By the way, why did you save those kids from a fire? No offense, but you don't seem like the kind of person to do that. Like you don't seem the kind of person to worry about their grades." Jason shook his head at the thought of Dallas's excuse a couple days before.

Dal shrugged. "Wasn't my idea. Johnny and Pony rushed off to save the kids, I was just making sure they stayed out of trouble. Lot of good it did, too," he whispered to himself.

Jason heard the whisper, and most of his earlier anger dissipated at the thought of losing a friend. If he had lost his friend Will, well, he wouldn't have robbed a store, but then again he wasn't Dallas Winston.

Dallas cocked his head as a thought occurred to him. "You said you knew about me days ago. Why didn't you call the cops?"

Jason shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably. "Because I knew there had to be more. A person who robbed a store doesn't forget the money when he runs," Jason smiled a little, "and he doesn't try to kill himself just because he thinks the cops might get him." The smile faded.

The incident with the knife flashed clearly before Dallas's eyes. "So you knew I thought it was the cops that day."

Mathews rolled his eyes. "Dallas, we aren't that naïve. The whole family knew you were a hood the day we found you. So we knew you had to be running from something."

Dallas still struggled to understand. "Then why didn't you call the cops? You knew I was a hood."

"Being a hood isn't a crime, Dallas."

"But after you figured out I had robbed the store, then why didn't you called the cops?" Dallas pressed the question again.

"Well, like I said, I figured there was more. I didn't want to call the cops until I figured it out. But to be on the safe side, I had Lori follow you around when I wasn't home." Dallas glared irritably at him, and Jason grinned.

"So you're the only one who knows I'm a criminal." It was a statement, but it also was a question. Had Jason told anybody else?

"Well, I did ask my dad about you. Discreetly, don't worry," he added as he saw Dallas's worried look, "I simply asked what if you turned out to be a criminal."

When Jason didn't elaborate, Dal leaned forward. "And? What'd he say?"

Jason shrugged. "He simply said that criminal or not, God had brought you here for a reason. That was good enough for me so I didn't tell him you had robbed the store. And besides, you were itching to leave anyway, so I figured we could hurry and patch you up, you'd be gone, and my hands would be clean."

Dallas looked back down at the floor, then he shifted his gaze back to the ceiling. "So...so, you're not going to tell anyone I robbed the store?" He made sure he didn't squirm as he waited for the answer.

"Not unless you make me."

Dallas gazed at the ceiling a while longer, digesting the thinly veiled threat, then he brought his eyes level to Jason and nodded slowly.

Jason stretched and got out of his chair. "Well, I'm about worn out. It's tiring staying up and worrying, waiting for you to get home." He gave a tired grin, but it disappeared as a thought occurred to him. "What were you doing out so late?"

"Hanging out with my friends." He quickly evaded the question.

Jason stared at him silently for a second. "Do I really want to know?"

"No."

"Winston, I want to keep believing that my decision to keep what I know secret is the right one. So please don't do anything that'll make me second guess myself." He paused as he let the words sink in, then he turned and walked out of the room.

Dallas sat there for a long time. The impact of what he had almost done was just hitting home. Jason could have easily called the police once Dallas had left with Cliff and the gang. He didn't have to wait and give Dallas a chance to explain. Dallas was sure lucky.

Darry had been right. He shouldn't do anything illegal until he got home. It was his only chance. But it was awfully hard to break a habit. He was a hood, after all.

'Being a hood isn't a crime, Dallas.'

Funny, back home it had always been a crime. The police thought so, the socs thought so, and even the greasers and hoods themselves thought so. If you were a hood, you were a criminal, and you did criminal things. Everyone knew that.

Dallas knew for a fact that hoods were criminals. He himself was one. Hoods were criminals. He knew that.

Then why did Jason's comment feel so right?

* * *

Hey, sorry it took until Monday, people. But things were happening at home, good things mind you, and that took up time. And then on top of that, I got a cold. Just a little one, but enough to where if you drink something you have to be careful because you can't breathe! =)

Anyway, I know this was a pretty short chapter. But I wanted to keep this part separate from all the others. And hopefully there was enough going on that you don't feel cheated out of a chapter.

MissLKid- Thanks for being the first one to review. Yep, Jason knows a lot more. Well, at least you have one week down. Just go day by day and soon the school year will just slip by. Slowly, but it'll slip by.

bitterspirit- Thank you, thank you. I love cliff hangars myself. Both in reading them and in writing them. =) Good guess, he did listen to the radio. Glad you think I did a good job with last chapter.

steves-girl- Hey, I'm glad you have your computer back! Oh, how technology changes the world. We have everything on our computers, and when they go down, your entire life just seems to be upside down. Now I'm not putting technology down, I love it, but it is amazing how fast we adapted to it. Awww, thank you. You're making me blush. =)

Oblivious Misconception- Yeah, you would think Jason would say something right away. But then they all knew he was a hood and they didn't say anything. And with the way Dallas has been acting this entire week, Jason knows there had to have been more. Thank you, I try to keep the plot moving; I don't want this story to just drag its heels in the dust forever. Everyone will quit reading and I won't get my precious reviews! =) Well, the prison rodeo is an actual event. I got this fascinating tidbit of info from fellow reviewer Robot In Disguise. She e-mailed me a story about the McAlester Prison Rodeo. No, I could never make up something that creative. Thanks for your review!

Cinderbrat- Hmm, so you've decided there isn't going to be a romance? Interesting. What are you basing this on? I'm actually really curious. How come you've changed your mind? A sequel? Well, I haven't really thought about it. I might be able to pull of a sequel, my ending is probably the perfect spot for a sequel to come in, but I never really thought about a sequel. I guess it will depend on how many reviewers ask for one, if any, and if I think I could do it. Because the one thing I don't want is to write a sequel that just stinks, and ruin it for everybody. So you liked the cliff hangar? Oh, yes, Dallas is getting much better. He's a quick learner; he has to be since he lives on the streets. Well, that's why I write this story; as a reward for people once they finish their homework. No, bumper stickers don't come off that easy, and I'm kind of hoping that this one stays on until the story's done. So I'll try my best to keep it there. =)

CiCi- Yep, Jason knows. Well, not necessarily bad. I mean, it could work out for the better. If Jason hadn't known, he could have just let Dallas run around with that gang all the time, and they might have gotten in a knife fight and died, and then we're right back to the end of the Outsiders. So it could be a blessing in disguise. =) Sorry, bad joke, but you never know what could happen because of one little thing you do. =) Thanks for the review!

Malara- I'm so sorry!!! Please forgive me. I didn't want to write this too early and not try my hardest at getting it good. I'll tell you a secret, shh,- I didn't even go back and reread the other two chapters. I just hurried, wrote them, and pasted them on. And they were okay chapters, but I think I could have made them better. So I'm going to try and reread this chapter and get it pretty good. Okay, let me see, you're saying Dallas can be different but he doesn't have to be, and that he can be in character but he doesn't have to be. Is that what you're saying? =) And I understood the comment on the plot, and thank you! And I must say, I absolutely loved your other reviews. ALL IN CAPS SHOUTING FOR ME TO UPDATE AND THEN have a nice day. It cracked me up! You sounded so in charge and in control; you were going to get me to update, and then this sweet little kid says have a nice day. Thanks, that made my day!

DaNNi BaBezZz- Well, you're just a good guesser, I guess. Question: what do you mean by Dallas getting into the race? I don't think I remember a race, but then again, I could have forgotten something I wrote. Sad, huh? Thanks for the review!

Beth- Well, welcome home! I must say, it was kind of lonesome on the computer not having your reviews or e-mails to keep me company. =) Well, I'm glad you enjoyed 8 so much! Your favorite chapter? Wow, thank you! Hope you laundry comes out okay! I have a weird thing when it comes to laundry. I don't mind putting the clothes in the washer, it's just the taking them out, folding them up, and the big kicker, ironing them! Horror! Ironing is one of the worst things invented. It's not fun to do, it's not so hard that you have fun concentrating and getting it done, but then again it's hard enough that you can't just do it and watch TV or something. You have to watch what you're ironing. Well, there, I'll get off my soap box about ironing and washing now. Thanks for your review! =)

me- You have made my entire week! Seriously, WOW! Thank you so, so, so, so much! And yes, if you haven't figured it out, I give you permission to post this on your English site. I do have one request though; could you give me the address of the site? I would love to learn more about your school. I like learning about other places. But thank you so much for thinking so highly of my story that you would post it on your class site! Aww, man THANK YOU!

Joker is Poker with a J- Interesting name. But then, I guess my name sounds weird to other too, huh? And yes, I had to end it there. I love cliff hangars. But, I have not put very many in this story. I really just enjoy reading them. I haven't put cliff hangars into practice very much. I was sad too when Dallas died. But I was sadder when Dal died. I loved Johnny and it was so sad when he died, but Hinton kind of told you to expect that. Johnny was the cute puppy of the gang, and what better way to hurt the gang than kill the puppy? But then, just when you realize Dal has a soft side and that he's actually human, she ups and kills him. I mean when I was reading the end, I was in total shock! "How could she do that? Dallas, you idiot, don't!" Well, now that I've shown you I'm totally insane...=) I get carried away in my reading, I know. I watch movies and read books, and if I got hooked on it, and then the ending is sad or just bad, I can walk around all day just thinking about that. Anyway, thanks for the review!

Malara- Already talked to you earlier. Have a nice day, too, and I sincerely apologize for making you wait so long.

crimson cutie- Ugh, two weeks with no internet! That's sinful! Yes, Dallas needs to work on his cover stories. Obnoxious? I must admit, she probably is just a little bit. I tried not to make her obnoxious. You know, in most movies and books, if it's action, drama, or sports, the one girl in the story just annoys you to death. They all make them horrible! That's because they always have this romance going, and they do a bad job with the romance! Sorry, I get a little irked about that.

I think Jason is just concerned for his family. I mean, he kept the fact that he knows Dal's a criminal secret, but he wants to protect his family. Well, Dallas, Texas has always what has come to mind when I hear Dal's name. I have never even read Tex. Actually, I haven't read any other Hinton book besides Outsiders. And I don't think I'm going to read any more. Sorry, but she just makes too sad and too realistic for me. The only sad ending I can really take is Roman Holiday. It's a movie, and it has a sad ending, but it is soooo good. You need to watch it if you haven't yet.

I don't know if Dal is irked because of Nathan's disrespect. Really, all he's been concerned with is keeping Cliff's respect, and keeping him quiet. Right now, he's in survival mode: who cares about what a stupid hood from McAlester thinks right now? Well, I agree with you, it was probably a little illegal. I don't think hoods get together to have tea. Well, he knew before the rodeo. I think he was acting strangely because Dal got out of the family's sight for a while, and he didn't think that was a good idea. Which, obviously, it wasn't. Thanks for your long review!! I love 'em!

Okay, well, I hope this makes up for the rather short reviews last chapter. Sorry about that, I know, if you take the time to actually write a review, you should get something in return. I feel the same way, and I try to make it worth your while to review.

Happy Labor Day! And to make mine an even happier one, please review! Thank you, have a nice day, =), I'll see you when I write the next one (which will probably be another week and maybe a couple of days more.)! Thank you!


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

Dallas was furious with himself. He couldn't believe he had allowed this to happen. Even if he was supposed to keep a low profile, he had to draw the line somewhere. He should've drawn it here. So then why was he here now, walking up the dreaded steps, going through the dreaded doors, and entering a place he had despised for as long as he could remember?

Sure, he had argued. In fact so intense had the arguing been between him and Lisa that Brian had had to step in before the two came to blows. And finally, Dallas had just given in. It had been obvious there was no way to win with her. She had even gotten him into a hated suit! So now here he was, walking reluctantly up the steps and entering the church.

They were into the foyer, and many people were milling about, talking to their friends before heading on in. As Brian herded the group over to greet some of his friends, Lori pulled Dallas aside.

"Dallas, let me fix this tie." She undid his tie and began to refasten it correctly. "Honestly, it looks like a monkey did it. It's almost as if you've never put on a tie before."

_I haven't. They're not that popular with the hoods today_. Dallas bit back the comments, but only barely.

"There you go," she smiled as she tugged the tie into the right place. "Now it looks like a tie."

"Thank you so much," he said sarcastically.

Lori turned to join the family in their mingling; Dallas quickly loosened his tie. He sighed and resolved to stay as far back in the shadows as he could. He watched as Will, the guy from the rodeo, walked up to Jason.

"Hey, what were you calling my house last night? And asking for my dad?" The questions were asked lightly, but Dallas waited, anxious for the answer.

Jason gave a slightly nervous chuckle and then quickly explained, "Oh, that. Well.. I woke up in the middle of the night wondering about the game tomorrow, and I started calling you to ask a question about some baseball thing. And then I ended up asking for your dad. Weird, huh? I was so embarrassed I just hung up the phone." He laughed again, and Dallas tuned out as the friends started talking about other things.

When Will walked away, Dallas caught up with Jason. "Talk about baseball stuff? That's what you said?"

Jason glanced at him. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing. I just thought you would be able to come up with a better excuse than that." Dallas threw Jason's words back in his face.

Jace grinned and shook his head. "Hey, I had to come up with that on the spot. You, you had lots of days to find a better excuse than low grades. And besides, I actually have called Will about baseball games," he defended himself.

"You're kidding?"

Jason sheepishly shook his head. "I get nervous before games."

The piano music sounded, and almost as one the people mingling about turned and headed through the double doors and into the sanctuary, all finding their favorite pews to sit in.

Jason joined the throng, and Dallas also, albeit a little more reluctantly.

_These people must be the worst singers I've ever heard. _Surrounded on all sides by the Mathews family, Dallas was amazed at their vocal talent. Brian and Lisa both had horrible singing voices, and it seemed Lori and Jason had inherited their voices. Even Carly, sweet little girl that she was, had a high, scratchy voice that grated on Dallas's nerves. Dallas, of course, wasn't singing at all. He hated this.

Church was a place he had always loathed, even when he was a kid. To him, it had always been the gathering place for the socs to gloat and pretend to be the sweet kids that they weren't. It was popular for a soc to be a Christian, but it wasn't for a greaser. It was popular for a Christian to talk about being kind to the poor greasers, and then they turned right around and beat them to a pulp. Church was for socs, not greasers.

Well, Dallas took that back. Pony and Johnny had gone to church for a while. Johnny had seemed to enjoy going, had even looked forward to going. That is, until the day Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit had joined them. Dal grinned to himself. He hadn't been there, but he could imagine the ruckus those three had caused. Whatever it had been, Pony and Johnny had been so embarrassed they never went back.

A tugging on his pants leg brought his mind back to the present. Carly was standing there, impatiently gesturing for him to look at her. Dallas finally obliged, and Carly shoved her hymnal into his hands. Her meaning was clear, but Dallas refused to sing one note. He wasn't going to go that low. He could pretend to be a soc, but he would never sing their church songs.

The music finally stopped, and the preacher took the stand. "Welcome, everybody. I trust everybody had a great time at the rodeo last night." There was a murmur of assent from the people.

The preacher started his drone, and Dallas quickly lost concentration, not that he was trying that hard. His mind drifted off into his own thoughts. But he was brought back to the present with a hard kick to his leg. Looking to see who had kicked him, Dallas became aware that everyone in the church was standing. He hurriedly stood up between Carly and Lori and stared straight ahead to block out Lori's death glares.

The preacher was sitting down on a pew facing the congregation as someone else led the church in prayer. Every head was bowed, every head except that of Dally's. The preacher glanced up as the prayer continued, and in doing so his eyes focused in on the one unbowed head. Dallas defiantly returned the stare.

Something shot through the air between Dal and the preacher, and Dallas quickly tore his gaze away. Just then, the prayer ended and everyone started their exit. He filed out into the aisle and tried his hardest to blend in with the crowd of people, but the preacher kept his gaze on Dallas a few minutes longer, before shifting his own eyes elsewhere.

The crowd filtered out of the sanctuary and once again into the foyer for some more chit chat. Dally once again tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible while the family mingled. Thankfully, the Mathews didn't try to introduce him to anybody, though whether that was because they were being cautious or they were just plain embarrassed of him Dal didn't know.

After several more minutes of mingling, the Mathews headed for the door. The preacher was standing next to it, shaking hands with people as they left. Brian walked over and shook the man, giving him a good natured slap on the back.

"Pretty good sermon today, Reverend."

"Thanks, Brian. But you probably fell asleep three seconds into it as usual." The preacher joked as he gave Brian a hearty handshake.

"I did!" Carly eagerly volunteered. As Brian tried to shush her she looked up confused. "Well, I did."

_So did I, kid,_ Dallas thought to himself. The others filtered by, the preacher having a word to say to each of them. Dallas moved to slip by as the preacher finished asking Jason about his baseball game tomorrow.

"And just where do you think you're going? No one gets out this door without a handshake from me." The preacher walked over and stuck out his hand. Dallas reluctantly took it.

"I haven't seen you around before. Just who might you be?" the man asked with a warm smile, but his eyes still made Dallas uneasy. It almost seemed as though the man could see right through him and knew exactly what he was.

"Friend of the family," Dallas replied as he smoothly extracted his hand from the man's surprisingly firm grip. He quickly walked out the door and down the steps. Quickly, but not hurriedly. A hood was a hood after all.

"Ohh, it's going to be so much fun with you home, Brian," Lisa sighed as she collapsed onto the couch. "A whole day off. You've been working like a dog this entire week."

"Yep, but now I get to just sit back and relax, read the newspaper and watch TV." Brian collapsed onto the other couch.

Lori grinned at her father. "That's what you're going to do all day? You'll go crazy."

Brian just sighed and closed his eyes. "Bet you ten bucks I don't, little girl."

"No bet, Daddy. But I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm a college girl," she said proudly.

Mr. Mathews pulled a pillow over his face to block out the light. "You'll always be my little girl. Even when you're sixty-two you're my little girl."

"Sixty-two? Yeah thanks, I really want to think about that. Can you imagine what I'd look like at sixty-two?"

"Can you imagine what you look like now?" Jason shot at his sister. Lori gave him an evil smile, snatched Brian's pillow off his face, and launched it at Jason's head

"Hey! Give me my pillow back! You kids," Brian grumbled as he walked over and got the pillow back from his son.

"Sorry Dad," Jason said sheepishly as he handed the pillow over.

Dallas watched as the family interacted. They all seemed genuinely excited that Brian had a day off. He did spend a lot of time at work, but he did get home at reasonable hours. _Guess he's just like Darry, never takes time to rest._

Dal stopped and considered the absurdity of his thought. He had compared a rich soc to a poor greaser like Darry. Did he really think they could have something in common?

He was interrupted out of his thoughts by the phone ringing.

"I'll get it," Jason called as he raced into the kitchen. "Hello?...Okay, hold on for a second please." Jason made his way back to the living room. "Dad, a guy's calling for you."

Brian instantly got up to answer it, but Dallas's attention was fixed on the family around him. All of them were staring at the kitchen, all their happy expressions from a few minutes ago wiped away.

"Here we go again," Lisa muttered under her breath.

Brian came out of the kitchen, wearing a guilty look on his face. "Uh, Lisa....that was work, and..uh..well they're really in need of some help, I mean three of the guys have the flu, some others are taking the day off same as me, and they really need my help." He started out slow and then rushed to get his explanation out as quick as he could.

Lisa crossed her arms and gave a weary sigh. "Fine. You gotta go, you gotta go." After seeing Brian's hurt expression, her voice softened. "I understand. I really do. Go on and save some people." She smiled at him.

Brian gave her a kiss, and headed out the door. The smile stayed on for a full two seconds after he left, but then the smile wearily vanished. She stayed quiet for a moment, Jason and Lori sharing a knowing glance between them.

"Dallas," Dal looked up as Lisa called his name, "don't ever marry a doctor." She laughed at her own statement.

No one spoke.

Lisa swallowed, and much like Dallas, she put her mask back in place. "Well, I better get some work done now that I have some time." She gave a totally unconvincing smile and went to her study.

Dallas forced himself out of his bed. It had been a tiring day; he had had to spend it playing with the siblings, which was essentially trying to keep up with the whirlwind Carly. Dinnertime had come, and Brian had gotten off work for the rest of the day, which had made the family extremely happy.

He had gone to bed exhausted and looking forward to a good night's sleep. He had had several days without the nightmares so he had thought he was safe. But no such luck tonight. Maybe after talking all about it the night before with Jason had reawakened the nightmares. So he was off to get something to drink that would hopefully help him stay awake the rest of the night.

He walked through the living room and started for the kitchen, when a head popped up from the couch. Dallas instantly jumped backwards, his hand reaching in his back pocket for the blade that wasn't there.

"Dallas, it's just me." Brian sat up straight. "Sorry I scared you like that."

Dallas slowly got out of his battle position. "It's okay, sir." For some reason, he felt he should call the man sir. The corners of his mouth twitched. "What happened? Your wife throw you out?"

Brian's downcast face made Dallas for some reason start to regret his comment. "No, Dallas. I just needed some time to think by myself. What are you doing up?" He switched topics.

Winston found himself getting defensive. "I was just getting a drink. I couldn't sleep either," he said quickly; the interrogation last night was starting to make him jumpy. He had no idea if Brian was going to start calling the police at the first sign of suspicious activity by Dallas.

Brian waved his hand in the air. "Oh, well feel free to get whatever you want."

Dallas nodded and went to the kitchen. He searched for a bit, and then finally settled for a Pepsi. There was nothing else in the house. He walked back to his bedroom.

"Hope you sleep better, Dal," Brian said as the teen passed by his couch.

The teen stopped and looked back at Brian. He was sitting on the couch, his hands periodically running through his hair and massaging his forehead. Dal found himself unable to walk away.

"You okay, sir? You look a little sick?" He stood there, barely able to control his fidgeting. It wasn't everyday that Dallas Winston asked how another person was doing. In fact, had there ever been a day? Dal didn't know.

"No, I'm just tired," Brian wearily rubbed his eyes. "I'm just worried about my job."

Dallas moved and sat down on the chair across from the couch. "Why? You get fired?"

Brian chuckled. "No, I didn't lose my job."

The hood found this hard to believe. In his experience the only time a person should be concerned about a job is if he didn't have one. If a person had a job, especially one as well-paying as this man had, there was no reason to worry. He rolled his eyes as he thought of how spoiled these socs were.

"I mean, this year has just been too hard on us, on my family. I'm gone so often. I hardly get home at all now. And before it was so much easier, you know? I went to the hospital and worked, but I had time off. Now, it's seems I have no time at home."

"Well, you had the day off today and you let yourself get sucked back into the hospital. Why didn't you just say no?"

"Dallas, it's not that simple. I try to come home and have some time off, but every time the hospital calls me and they need me. And how can I when there are people out there who need my help? How can I refuse when I know people need me?"

Dallas didn't let him off the hook with the excuse. "Well, when you go to sleep aren't there still people out there who need you help?" Not waiting for a reply he continued, "So why don't you stay up all night and work then?"

Brian smiled reluctantly. "Because I need my rest if I want to be in any condition to help others." He said it as if it was a familiar phrase to him.

"See? You can't just keep working, or you'll end up working yourself to death." Dallas made a mental note talk Darry. Darry did the same thing; he worked nonstop. And besides wearing himself out, his workaholic attitude also hurt his brothers. Dallas had always seen the tension between Ponyboy and Darry. No, Dar's working wasn't the whole reason, but it was a good portion of it.

"And besides, your family should come first. Not somebody you don't even know." Dal laughed at the irony; he was telling the man who helped save his life to disregard strangers just like himself. Life was strange.

Brian looked up. "Why do you say that? Has anybody said anything?"

Winston shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He knew he was on dangerous ground; Lisa wouldn't want this to reach her husband's ears. "Well, Lisa did seem kind of annoyed at you."

"And?" Brian wouldn't let it go.

"And, she told me never to marry a doctor."

Brian leaned back. "I should have realized. Lisa never complains; she's always supportive. I should have realized she felt that way."

Dal waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, I'm sure she didn't mean that. She was just a little frustrated."

"Yeah, she's frustrated all right. How many times have I done that to her? I always plan a vacation, and at the last minute I have an emergency to attend to." Brian rolled his eyes in self disgust.

"Well, from now on when you plan a vacation just go on a vacation." It was such an easy solution Dallas couldn't believe this smart man hadn't thought of it.

Brian laughed. "I guess you're right Dallas. It's so simple, yet so hard. I guess I'll just have to try harder. And I'm going to try harder. I won't have my wife feeling as if she should never have married a doctor." His voice grew confident as he said the next words, "From now on, when I get a day off, I'm keeping it a day off.

"You know, Dallas, you're a pretty easy person to talk to. I suppose it's sometimes easier to just talk to a stranger than to your family. Pretty strange, but it worked. Thanks, Winston." Brian held out his hand, finally a big grin spreading across his face. Dallas returned the handshake, then got up to leave.

"Hope you get a good night's sleep, sir."

"Oh, I will. I just hope your going to sleep as good as I am from now on." Brian jumped excitedly from the couch and headed off to his bedroom, a bounce in his step now that he had that weight lifted off his shoulders.

Dallas shook his head in amusement. Socs could sure complicate things. But then again, Darry did the exact same thing. Funny how a brilliant doctor soc, and a poor brick-layer greaser could have so much in common. Maybe being a soc life wasn't as perfect as he'd thought.

* * *

Hey, you know I seriously intended this to be up last Friday! Then, it just worked its way over to Wednesday. But, like a friend said, better a late chapter than no chapter at all!

Malara- Thanks for all your reviews! I agree, do you even want to know? Hey, I understand how hard it is to update (as you can tell from how slow this one came). Yes, he's just worried about his family, but he doesn't want to automatically condemn Dallas. A rare and unique trait. Hey, it's good to be nice, don't let me stop you! Have a nice day, too! )

nighttime writer- I do that too, just travel through all these sites and nothing has been updated. And then I find myself going through the exact same site two or three times, as if they will suddenly be updated! Thanks for the review!

Joker is Poker with a J- Yep, sometimes endings just kill you. And I have a feeling we are not the only ones who talk to books or movies. So don't feel weird! Sorry about the long stretch between updates. Forgive me?

ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies- Well, I'm flattered that my updating could be compared with a school holiday! That's one pretty big compliment. But aren't you just so sad that you will be missing a day full of learning and more learning? ) Glad I could help your holiday be more fun!

CinderBrat- Wow, you must be telepathic! Is that the right one? Psychic? Oh, well, something along the lines of that! I'm glad you didn't think that telling Jason everything wasn't that bad. Well, I can't really do something about the update pauses. I try to update every week, sometimes I don't like this update, but I try to be consistent. But you're right, the pause did hamper the climactic feel of the chapter. I've read some stories like that where they leave you on this big, juicy cliff hangar for weeks, and when they finally update you have to go back to the previous chapter to even remember the cliff! Sequel, still up in the air. Lori and Dally? Interesting conclusion, but whatever happens happens, right?

MissLKid- Boy, you almost gave me a heart attack! I read the first part of you review, and I was thinking, "Oh no, what did I put in the story that was so messed up?" And then I read on, oh shoo, it was just about school! ) Yes, I was in the wrong. School and slip by should _never_ be used in the same sentence, unless you use them as total opposites! Sorry!

Beth- I hope this chapter had enough Brian in it. He'll be in some more chapters, I promise! And always feel free to critique me when you feel I'm doing something wrong, or could do something better. It always helps me, and I always appreciate critiques! I won't make you change; you go right on and keep eight as your favorite chapter!

Tensleep- Thank you very much! Impressed, wow! Well, I'm glad you think Jason was fair. And yeah, I think any normal person would want to know if they had a criminal in their house! Well, thank you again. And I'll see **_you_** in the funny papers! Kidding, that's your phrase. I won't steal your phrase, don't worry!

CiCi- That's what everybody does. We all love to rub our hands together and think up something to do to Dallas. It's the only way we get fun in life!

crimson cutie- Well, glad you don't think Lori is annoying. Yep, I think the family doesn't trust him alone either! Well, isn't that what happens in the news? You just put what convenient for a story, and forget all the other stuff. This is news, freedom of the press! ) Well, let's see if I can explain this. Johnny might just be a greaser, but did that make any difference to a soc? Did you treat a greaser any different than a hood? They were just something to be stepped on and ridiculed, and what had they done? They were just poor kids. Yes, there are definitely hoods that do crimes and those crimes make them criminals. But that doesn't necessarily mean every hood is a criminal. Do you see what I mean? A little confusing, but hopefully it's understandable. Thanks for the review!

Jaws- Well, I'm pretty much all better, thank you for your thoughts. Thank you, I'm glad Dal is still in character most of the time. That's the biggest problem, you have Dallas in this different setting and you don't know exactly how he would actually react. You just have to try your best to get it right. I'm glad you think I'm doing okay!

DaNNi BaBezZz- Hmm, I don't think Dallas joined any rodeo races. He went to sit with the Mathews to keep his low profile, not hang out with a bunch of hoods. Is that what you were referring to? Anyway, thanks for the review!

Okay, back at the bottom of my chapter. Can anyone guess what I'm going to say? You're right: review please! And have a great day!


	12. Chapter 12

"No, you can not!...No comment, leave us alone!"

"Who was that, Dar?" Pony asked as Darry entered the living room, his gaze still boring into the television screen. The rest of the gang was there, sprawled on the floor or on a couch, all staring with the same bored expression at the set.

"Some stupid reporter, asking to talk to you." Darry sat down with a sigh.

Pony finally looked up from the TV. He looked to be struggling with something but didn't quite know how to express it. "Dar?" he asked after a while. "Do you believe what that man said?"

"What man?"

"The man that called you to tell you about Dal."

"Oh, yeah that man. What about him?"

"Do you believe what he said this morning...about Dallas fitting in?"

Darrel shrugged his shoulders. "Why wouldn't I believe it?"

Pony glanced at him as if it was obvious. "Dal's a greaser, a hood. And he's fitting in with socs?"

Dar just shook his head. "Aw, Ponyboy, you're making a big deal out of nothing."

"Nothing?! What if Dal is fitting in, what if he actually _likes_ the socs!...What-what if he wants to stay there?"

Darry had had enough. "Look, he's not going to stay there. It's only for one more week. Then he'll be here. He even called us. He's coming back." He stated the plain hard facts, and then he switched the topic to order Pony about.

"Now, you get on in your room and start on your homework. I didn't meet with _all_ your teachers and figure out what you missed for you not do any of it."

After a couple of complaints, Pony obediently left for his bedroom. After he was gone, Steve turned to Darry.

"What if he's right? What if Dallas doesn't come back?"

"Oh, not you too." Darry sighed. "Steve, he's coming back."

"But what if he doesn't?"

"You think he wants to stay there, with the socs? Come on." Soda rolled his eyes.

"But you heard what that Mathews guy said on the phone. Dal's fitting right in."

"He has to! He has to keep up the charade! Otherwise the fuzz would be all over him."

"But what if he is fitting in?" Steve pressed.

Darrel struggled for a second. "If he's fitting in, then the fuzz isn't near him."

"So you think he is fitting in?"

Darrel thought for a second. "I don't know," he said finally.

Steve turned his attention back to the TV. When the gang had thought Dallas was gone for good, Steve had been the one most severely affected. And the one most relieved when they had found out he was alive. After a few seconds of silence Steve turned back to Darrel.

"So what happens if he does decide to stay there?"

Darrel opened his mouth to answer. Closed it. He searched his brain, and then he insisted, "Dallas'll come back. He's gonna come back." But the dead certainty of a few minutes ago was gone, replaced with a hint of doubt.

* * *

"Dallas, you're doing pretty well." Lisa complimented as she watched him finish ringing up a customer. "Keep this up and I'll want to hire you on permanent." 

Dallas rolled his eyes unbelievingly as Lisa left to finish stacking several items that a customer's kid had accidentally knocked over, fortunately with little damage done.

Because of her back being turned, Lisa didn't see the door open and a man enter. Dallas did, but he didn't say anything. The man gazed around the room, and when he spotted her, a smile appeared. The man walked carefully over to her. When he was right behind her his hand, quick as lightning, covered her eyes.

"Guess who?" the deep voice asked.

Lisa thought and thought. "Michael? John? No? Oh, I know, it's my cute young boyfriend Max."

"Very, very funny," Brian said as he turned her around. Lisa smiled and gave him a quick kiss.

"Or it could be my husband whom I love and adore."

"That's better." Brian pulled his other hand from behind his back and presented her with a little box.

"What's this?" Lisa took the box, and slowly opened it, heightening the anticipation. Inside were two movie tickets. "What are these?"

"These are tickets to the movie you wanted to see on Saturday night."

"But you work on Saturday, we can't go."

Brian shook his head, not able to conceal his grin any longer. "Nope. I have next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off."

"Off? Why?"

"I requested it. And since I didn't have Sunday off yesterday, they let me go with little fuss."

"Why'd you request it?" Lisa was still puzzled.

Brian took Lisa's hands. "Because I've finally realized what a jerk I've been. I've put too much into my work, and it's time I take a break and realize where my priorities really are." His sincere words made Lisa blink back her tears of joy. The two of them leaned closer and shared a sweet kiss. Then they smiled and talked quietly to each other for a while.

Dallas, watching all this transpire from the register, turned and averted his gaze. Some things needed their privacy, and even Dallas could recognize one when he saw one.

* * *

"Dallas, hurry up!" Carly impatiently waited for Dal to finish paying the cashier while she stood near the door. When he finally got his change and headed her way, Carly raced out of the store, Dallas following. 

Lori had gone off to pick up Carly from school a few minutes before Brian had come to the store. Jason had had to stay at the school for baseball practice before the game.

Carly had immediately wanted a snack, and since Dallas hadn't had his break yet, he was naturally voted the one to go. Naturally. But it was almost over. They had payed for the snack, Dallas had withstood all of Carly's commentary about her day at school, and the exciting game tonight, and he hadn't said one thing rude or sarcastic. He was getting better.

"Dallas, I took Tex to school."

"Oh," Dallas had perfected that oh.

"Yeah, and all the kids loved it. Sarah wanted to trade her pet turtle for him, but I said 'no.' Aren't you proud of me Dallas?" She looked up at him, her hazel eyes shining.

"Definitely." Dallas murmured. He was getting better, but it was still hard sometimes.

"Look, Dallas! Aren't those your friends?" Carly excitedly pointed toward a group of boys huddled across the street. Sure enough, Cliff and Nathan were there, along with a lot of the hoods Dallas had hung out with only a few nights ago.

"Come on, let's go see them!" Carly surged forward, excited at the prospect of meeting Dal's 'friends.'

"Whoa! Wait a minute!" Dallas ran and caught up with Carly. He grabbed her hand and jerked her back. "We are not going over there."

"But I want to meet them!" Carly tried to wriggle her hand out of Dallas's, but he kept too firm of a grip on hers.

"No. Carly, they'll meet you later, okay?" he lied, trying to divert Carly's attention. One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to let a little girl anywhere near that group of hoods. He was a hood and he knew what happened in groups such as those. Especially since he had been a part of that group only a couple nights. Now he just had to give Carly a reason for not meeting them.

"See, I already asked them to come see you."

"Really! When?"

"Uhh, next Sunday." He should be gone by then. Perfect.

"Oh." Carly thought for a second. "Okay."

"Good." Dallas straightened up and took a direction far from where the hoods were standing, doing whatever they were doing. Dallas had walked for a couple of blocks before he realized that Carly's hand was still in his. Quickly he pried his fingers loose and walked a little bit faster. They had almost reached the store.

* * *

"Go Jason go!" Lori screamed at the top of her lungs. Jason had gotten up to bat and had hit a deep ball into centerfield. He was rounding the bases as the other team desperately relayed the ball in. Jason passed second and headed for third. The ball was fired to third, the third basemen caught it and swept his glove over to tag Jason. But too late, Jason had already slid in. 

"Yes!!!! Way to go!" This was Brian screaming now.

Dallas simply shook his head. The kid _was_ good. He was a good shortstop, pretty quick but no match for Ponyboy in speed, and an extremely good batter. It looked as if Lisa hadn't been exaggerating when she had bragged about her baby boy.

He watched as the pitcher pitched to the next batter. A couple seconds later, the ball was bouncing through the grass, snatched up by the outfielder and fired home, the ball reaching home three seconds after Jason stepped across the plate. The stands came alive; they were now up 3-2. Dallas allowed himself to clap a couple of times before he quit. Jason had done pretty good, though. He clapped his hands a couple more times.

* * *

"Good game, Jason." Brian called as they walked over to the dugouts. The game was over and the boys were packing up their things. Jason's team had won 7-4. Even Dallas had to admit it hadn't been that boring. 

"Thanks Dad," Jason grinned.

Dallas stood next to the family. But a couple of voices behind him made him swivel around. Two boys were walking off, their backs to Dallas. But he could still make out what they were saying. And it wasn't very nice. Dal slipped away from the family and followed the boys.

After checking to make sure nobody was around or watching Dallas walked up behind the two boys. He grabbed them by their shirt collars and pushed them under the bleachers.

"Hey what do you think you're doing?" One of the boys demanded after getting over his shock of being pushed by Dal.

In response Dallas grabbed a fistful of the boy's shirt and pushed the boy against a pole. "Apologize," he hissed.

"What?" the boy asked his voice shaking a bit. The friend was just staring, too frightened and startled to say or do anything.

"Apologize about what you said about Jason Mathews and his family." Dallas had heard their little jokes. He knew that they had probably been supporting the other team and they were just upset over their loss, but he wasn't going to let this go unpunished.

"Hey man, it was just a joke. I didn't mean anything by it," the guy protested.

Dallas tightened his grip on the guy's shirt, and lifted his other arm, his fist curled and ready to strike. That and the evil stare Dallas gave was enough to give any man second thoughts.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it," the kid put his hands up to block the blow.

Dallas switched his death glare over to the friend.

"I-I'm sorry too," he hastily added to his friend's statement.

Dallas didn't let go of the guy. The two were clearly socs, and Dal knew what an opportunity he had. He hadn't beaten up a soc in so long. Well, there had been the night with Cliff's gang, but this was different. These guys had insulted the Mathews family, and now he had them all alone. _But,_ the reasonable part of Dallas whispered, _there are too many people around that would see the guys all beat up and figure it out. And they would talk._ No, he had to let them go, no matter how painful it was. Oh, but he _so_ wanted to punch these guys' lights out.

With a sigh he loosened his grip on the soc's shirt. Quickly the two of them got away. Dallas was pleased to see that even though he hadn't hit either of them, they still scurried off like frightened rabbits. He smiled slightly and walked out of the bleachers and headed back to join the Mathews.

"Hello, young man. And how are you?" It was the preacher. _Great._

"Fine," Dallas replied, carefully concealing his smile from a few seconds before. He shifted uncomfortably as he quickened his pace, hoping the preacher would get the hint.

The preacher walked beside Dal. "That was a great game wasn't it? I really enjoyed it." Dallas grunted unintelligibly.

"Reverend, you made it." Officer Roberts stepped forward and shook hands heartily with the preacher. He was there with his son, Will who was talking to Jason about the game.

Dallas quickly moved to the side of the preacher and Roberts. He was only too happy to get away from the preacher. He watched silently as the church man greeted the group.

"Did you ever think I would miss a game like this? Will, you pitched great. You got a couple of guys so bad I thought they would die of embarrassment."

"Thank you, sir," Will replied, slightly embarrassed.

The reverend turned to Jason. "And Jason, you had some pretty big hits this game. Congratulations."

Jason grinned. "Thank you."

"Yeah, that's my boy," Brian proudly stated. He put his hand affectionately on Jason's shoulder.

_Johnny's father grabbed him by the shoulder and hurled him out the door._

"_You piece of filth!" _

_Johnny hit the steps and collapsed on the ground._

_The man picked up a two by four. The pipe went down and down, hitting everywhere, joined by the occasional kick. Johnny fell down once and his father grabbed his shoulder and propped him back up. The blows rained down, but Johnny never cried out._

_A blow to the face, one to the back, a kick to the legs, five blows to the back, a slap on the face, all the while insults being hurled at Johnny. The yells and the cracks of the pipe echoed disgustingly down the street._

Brian squeezed Jason's shoulder warmly. "Good game, son," he said simply.

Dallas took a step back, startled, confused.

A few minutes later the families picked up their stuff and walked out to the parking lot together. There they all went their separate ways, calling goodbyes over their shoulders. Brian put Jason's stuff in the back and walked back to get in the driver's seat. He stopped when he saw Dallas who was just standing there, staring into nothing.

"You all right Dallas?" he put out a hand as he asked the question.

Dallas jerked back, keeping Brian from making contact with him. "Yes, I'm fine," he quickly dismissed the question, and got in the car. Brian watched him get in, shrugged, and opened up his own door. He started the car, and they left the lot.

Dal stared out the window the entire drive back. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the images out of his head. He didn't hear the lively conversation going on in the car. He didn't feel the leather armrest that he gripped so tightly. He didn't see the beautiful scenery he was staring out at. No, he couldn't get those images out of his head. They were still there, and no matter how hard he tried otherwise, they stayed there. He couldn't get them out of his head. He couldn't understand why it bothered him so. And that scared him.

* * *

* * *

Okay, another chapter up! And I have a wonderful announcement to make! Last chapter all the reviews for this story passed the ONE HUNDRED mark! On the Run has a total of 114 reviews so far. Thank you thank you! Thank you! Wow, that is so cool!

And sorry I have to put all those bars in, but fanfiction won't let me do anything else. Hope it doesn't confuse anybody.

ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies- That is ironic! What are the odds of that? Well, I wonder if this one is on a holiday. Well, it's on a Sunday, so you are out of school. Let's count it. Wow, three in a row! )

Malara- Thank you very much. Yes, I know what you mean. He's still the bad hood, but he's still human. Well, it wasn't exactly right away, but I updated. Thanks for all your reviews and encouragement! And if I'm not mistaken, I think you were my one hundredth reviewer. Thanks so much! Really, thanks! ****

Beth- No, they aren't having very serious problems. It's just a little glitch in an otherwise perfect marriage. I think a lot of doctors and law enforcement workers do have this problem of working too late and hard. It creates a couple of problems, but the family can work around it and still be a family without having to divorce or any of that stuff. It just requires more effort. Yes, Dallas is very mature on some issues, and on other issues he just doesn't understand. Aww yes, I love fluff stuff. In Star Wars, Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker fluff I adore. Maybe it's because in the books there isn't enough of it. But I always grin when I read stuff like that too. Thanks for saying so!

nighttime writer- Thank you. Peace out? That's cool, I haven't heard that in a while. ) I'm delighted you're hooked, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

cinderbrat- Oh, it's okay if you don't want to log in. I understand. I hope you like cute, since you say it is cute. Because if you don't like cute, well, then you probably hate this story. Yes, you are right, something needs to happen. And yes, I am leading up to something. Some more things happened in this chapter, and I think a couple more chapters be building a little bit more, and then I think something big will happen. After all, Dallas only has two weeks with these people. It's getting awful close. Ohh, you're sick? I'm sorry, I hope you're all better! I hate being sick myself, the only good thing is you get to relax and everybody else works to make you feel better. But only if you're really sick, darn it. )

CiCi- Really nasty? I'm thinking more emotional, I hope you don't think gory. I don't think I would be able to do the gory real well. I do read and watch lots of action movies, but Dallas in this story is more on an emotional level. But don't worry, I'll be twisting Dal's emotions this way and that very nastily. Thanks for the review!

Beth- Thank you so much! Yeah, it is huge. I never thought I would get that many. Thanks for the congrats!

Jessie 13- Yes, you're right, Darry is very hard. The reason I think Dal is a little hard is because most stories have him cussing all the time. And I know in real life that's probably what hoods do, but you don't need the cussing to convey the character. In The Outsiders, SE Hinton never needed to tell us the cuss words, she did imply he said them, but she didn't need them to get us hooked on Dal's character. But reading fanfiction makes you think that you have to have that or else Dallas is not in character. So that's what I thought made him a bit of a challenge. How to get him in character and people thinking he's in character, without having to resort to cussing. I meant no offense if you read or write stories with cussing, it's just what I thought. But you're right, Darrel is pretty hard. He's different than all the others.

MissLKid- That's okay. Your teachers are going on strike? Why? Well hey, a holiday, I'm all for it! Good luck! )

Tensleep- Thanks, I wanted people to laugh. Well thank you very much, I appreciate that. Thank you for all your reviews. You've really contributed to getting this story up to a hundred reviews. Thank you so much!

Joker is Poker with a J- Oh, nothing needs to be forgiven. That's okay, I do that all the time too. But thank you for putting me on author alert! That was really sweet!

Oblivious Misconception- Thanks a lot! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I tried to make that part natural, even though Dallas isn't very natural at helping people with their problems. He has enough of his own, right? Yeah, the eyes are the key for Dallas. He uses them to say everything he needs to say. Oh no problem, it's fun to think that a prison rodeo actually exists. Can you imagine? The McAlester prison is very different from all the other prisons. )

Scarlett7- Thank you so much! You helped me though. How's your cat? Is he perfectly fine? I hope so. And I know how crazy life can get, so don't even worry about it. Thanks for reviewing!

blackshe-wolf- I love writing that name. It sounds so cool and feisty. You're a wolf. You're a she-wolf. You're a blackshe-wolf. I love wolves and black ones are pretty. Well, I'm glad you caught up on the story! Thanks for the compliment, it means a lot!

stevesgirl- Oh, don't worry about it! I understand completely. It's hard to review every chapter, and I'm amazed that you've done so many already! Wow, thanks! I hope you have better luck with your computer! Talk to ya later!

Lintucuiel- Thanks for the review! Hey, two words are better than no words at all! Interesting pen name, how do you pronounce it? Lint, oo, sue, e, el? Sorry if I got it wrong. But anyway, thanks for your review!

Well, now you've read so please review! Thank you again for all the reviews. They mean so much to me. It's unbelievable. Thank you so much!!! Have a fabulous day!


	13. Chapter 13

"Lori, come help me back here." Lisa called to her daughter from the storage room.

As Lori left, Dallas took her place behind the counter. No one was around, so he buried himself in the newspaper. So far he hadn't seen anything about his robbery or about the fire. But he knew he couldn't let his guard down, he had to keep alert.

"Yo, Dallas." Looking up, Dal saw Cliff outside the store, tapping on the glass. Dal glanced around to make sure the two girls were still in the storeroom then headed out the door.

"What do you want?" he asked as they walked a few steps to get out of sight of the store. They turned into an alleyway, and there Nathan and the two other members, Dal couldn't remember their names, were waiting.

Nathan answered the question. "We're going to go hunting up some more trouble tonight. Wanna come along?"

"Naw, man I can't."

"Why not?" Nathan asked impatiently.

Dal sighed. "Look I already told you guys, I have to stay low. I can't go running off getting into trouble."

"You did the night of the rodeo."

"Yeah, and I got my head chewed off."

Nathan shook his head. "I knew it. I thought you might still be tough since you came with us the night of the rodeo, but you are going soft. You gotta get out of that place, man, their corrupting you."

Dallas raised an eyebrow. "Corrupting?"

"Yeah, they're making you all goody-goody. You can't do anything."

"Look, I'm about to get out of here. Once I'm back home I can do whatever I want. But right now I'm trying to stay out of prison."

Nathan brushed the comments aside. "Face it Winston. You're becoming a soc."

Dallas lunged at him. Caught off guard, Nathan was flung against the wall. Dallas punched him in the stomach. Nathan hit back. Cliff and the other two leaned against the wall, a couple of smiles as they watched the fight progress. A few minutes later, Dallas was on top of Nathan with Nate's blade in his hand. Dal drew the knife down to Nathan's neck and hissed, "This seem like a soc to you?"

Nathan's glare never wavered. "You're still pretty bad," he admitted, still with the spark in his eyes. "But you ain't the baddest hood anymore."

"I ain't a soc," Dallas spit out.

Nathan just shrugged.

"I'm not," he growled again.

"Maybe, maybe not."

xxxxx

"Come on! Keep it down!"

"I'm trying!"

"Well try harder!"

"I am trying harder!" Carly's voice rang through the house. Brian looked up from his newspaper.

"Should you go stop that?"

Lisa gave him a gentle swat on the head as she passed by. "You could just as easily go yourself, you know."

Brian wagged his head and mouthed silently to the air, imitating his wife.

"What's that? I didn't catch it."

He quickly buried himself in the newspaper. "Nothing, dear." She just rolled her eyes.

Lisa flounced into the hall. "Okay you've been at that long enough you two," she sang out to the duo leaning over the mirror.

"We would have been done earlier, but your stupid little girl can't get this simple thing," Dal remarked exasperatedly.

"Hey! I'm not stupid!" Carly cried, but she didn't bother turning around. She stared intently at the mirror, trying to raise her one eyebrow. Dallas bent down and placed both hands on her left eyebrow.

"Okay, now lift the right one." Carly groaned in concentration. "Come on we almost got it," Dal cried, pushing the left brow down as it tried to rise along with the right. After a couple of minutes, the right brow was up, and with Dal's help, the left one was down.

"Yahoo!" Carly giggled. "We did it!"

"Finally." Dal sighed, then he slapped her on the back. "Did good, kid," he remarked. Carly giggled even harder.

An amused Lisa glided into her daughter's room. "How you going Lori?"

Dallas called after her, "Tell that girl she's been in there for over three hours. You'd think she was getting ready for her wedding."

Lori, sitting at her own dressing table heard the comment and shouted back through the open door, "Dallas Winston if you want to look beautiful you've got to spend time on it."

The door closed behind Lisa, so they didn't hear Dallas's reply. Lori turned back to finishing up her makeup. "You do look beautiful honey," Mrs. Mathews murmured as she gave her daughter a from-behind hug.

"Like you, Mom."

Lisa smiled. "Well of course. You don't think God would waste all these beautiful looks on just me, do you?"

The younger Mathews glanced through the mirror at her mother. "'Pride goeth before a fall,' Mother."

"Honey, God gave me these killer looks. I am simply letting others become aware of God's wonderful work." Lisa loftily stated.

"Mother!" the twenty-one-year-old stared in shock at her mother's uncharacteristic statements.

"I'm teasing you, Lori. Now, come on, we've got to hurry up." The two ladies bent down and finished putting on Lori's makeup for the special night.

xxxx

"Lori, Lisa, he's here," Brian hollered as he went to answer the door.

"We'll be there in a minute!"

Brian opened the door. "Trey, come on in and sit down. She'll be out in a minute."

"Thank you, sir." A young man entered and nervously went and sat down on the couch, barely touching the edge of the seat.

"How are you Trey?" Brian asked.

"Fi-fine, sir, j-just fine." The young man stumbled a little over his words.

"Trey, relax, we aren't going to bite you," Jason commented kindly, sitting on the other couch with Dallas right next to him. Dallas was lounging back, intently studying the man before him.

"Right we aren't going to bite you," Brian sat in his chair with Carly on the floor, in effect making a circle all the family on one half, and Trey on the other half of the circle.

"However, we will expect Lori home by 11:00."

"Yes sir," Trey quickly volunteered.

A few minutes of polite conversation then Brian excused himself to go find out exactly what was keeping the two women. Dallas glanced down and a gleaming object caught his eye. He swiftly pulled Two-Bit's blade out of Jason's pocket. As slow and as obvious as possible, Dal flicked open the blade. He played with it for a few seconds, pushing his hand against the tip to feel its sharpness. After a while he looked up and met Trey's eyes.

"11:00," he repeated conversationally.

Wide-eyed, Trey silently nodded. Jason coughed loudly, his hand conveniently covering his mouth.

"Okay I'm ready," Lori's voice filtered into the living room. Dallas closed the blade and put it into his pocket. He took his cue from the others and stood. He turned to see Lori enter the room.

And barely constrained his jaw from dropping. With a perfect fitting blue jean skirt, low heels, and a light green collared shirt that set off her green eyes brilliantly, Lori was the spitting image of perfection. Dallas hadn't seen her in anything except sweats and old clothes as she worked in the store. And her brown hair had always been in a ponytail. Now it was down, meticulously curled mahogany locks reaching just past her shoulders.

"Lori you are gorgeous," Trey, no trace of nervousness now in his voice, strolled over.

"Thanks," she blushed. "You ready to go?" At Trey's nod, they both headed out the door, Lori calling her goodbyes over her shoulder.

"My little girl's all grown up." Lisa laughed, though still with a little moisture in her eyes.

"Aww, wait until she graduates college, then that's the time to cry," Brian patted his wife on the shoulder.

"Well, now that Lori's gone can you teach me some more tricks Dallas?" Carly eagerly asked, tired of watching her sister.

"Not tonight."

"How 'bout tomorrow?" Before Dal could respond she continued excitedly, "and the next day and the next and the next. I want to learn all of your tricks!"

Brian knelt down beside Carly, but not before giving his wife an I-told-you-so look. "Carly, Dallas is going to go home in a couple of days. He doesn't have time to teach you all these tricks."

"Going home?"

"Yes, he has his own family."

"I guess." Carly grudgingly mumbled. "But you'll come back to visit us won't you?" She gazed at the hood, her sweet expression able to melt even the most hardened of hearts.

"Maybe," Dal said. Carly raised her hands in triumph as she bounded to her room. _So what?_ It was just to get her off his back. If he had said the truth he would never have heard the end of it.

"I told you, Mother," Brian whispered to Lisa. "Carly's growing too attached to Dallas."

"She'll get over it."

"I hope so."

xxxx

"Dallas Winston, just who do you think you are?" Lori stormed into his bedroom. Dal was up, reading a book he had actually gotten interested in. He glanced at the nightstand where the clock read 11:30.

"I think the better question is why are you home so late?"

"Don't change the subject. Did you or did you not threaten Trey?"

"Trey?" He couldn't place the name.

Lori rolled her eyes. "My date tonight, Trey. You threatened him to have me home at 11:00!"

"And a lot of good it did too. Man, threats just aren't what they used to be."

"So you admit you threatened him."

Dally held up his hands. "Whoa, I never ever threatened him." Lori snorted. "I didn't. I merely said 11:00."

"With a knife in your hands."

"Hey, it's not my fault if he thought that the knife was meant for him."

"That's bogus, Dallas." But she was calming down, he could tell. "From now on, you stay away from my dates. If you threaten him again..." Lori let the sentence hang. "Now, what I want to know is where did you get that knife?"

"Knife?" _Play dumb._

"You just admitted you had a knife."

"Oh, yeah." _Darn it. New plan. _"Lady, I come from Tulsa. I need a knife to protect myself sometimes. I don't ever use it." _Hardly._

"Well just the same, please don't get it out in our house. I hate knives. Thank you," she spun on her heel and flounced out the door.

"Hey! Just a second. How come you weren't in at 11:00 like your dad wanted?"

Lori smiled. "You think you're so smart, don't you? Well, for your information, the movie started late, there was an accident on the road, plus some kids were stirring up trouble somewhere and the police had to go get them. We all had to stop and wait for them to go by. Dad understands. Nice try, though."

"Did the fuz- did the police catch those kids?"

"Not that I know of."

"What were the kids doing?"

Lori shrugged. She left without another word.

_Looks like I was smarter than I thought. I can imagine Darry's face if he heard that I was caught hanging with some hoods after he warned me not too. Good thing I wasn't caught after the rodeo either. But that was only one time. And I'm almost out of here._ With these happy thoughts, Dallas threw the incident out of his mind and went back to his reading. He was nearly home.

* * *

Hey! I know this one's short, and it probably doesn't have that much action going on, but was a necessary chapter. It's the last little hurdle before some things start happening. I know this was up pretty late, but we're getting our bathroom redone so I spent the majority of my time tearing down wallpaper and hammering out tile. By the way, busting tile is pretty fun! You need to try it. And then of course my usual writing time was interrupted by the vice-presidential debate. But there wasn't a debate tonight so I had time.

By the way, is anybody else ready for Christmas? I am, I don't know for some reason it just feels like Christmas. The weather here is really nice, it's been raining and we had a really cool summer. Hopefully we'll get some snow this year. Especially since Christmas is at my house this year.

Anyway, on with reviews.

ER Monkey, Burner of Cookies- Well, how are we doing? I kind of doubt you have a day off today, this is kind of a weird day to have off, but who knows. The weather could still be pretty bad down there.

Jessie13- I'm sure you do a lot better job with keeping the cussing at a minimum than a lot of stories I've seen. And I'm not saying that having cussing automatically makes a story bad, I just think the story is good with or without it. I know some great books that have cussing in it, and I enjoy them, so it can go either way, just not over the top.

MissLKid- Yeah, either way you go, you end up having to do something annoying. Either school now or school later. Thanks for the review!

Joker is Poker with a J- Yep, Dallas is pretty forceful. He can make people say sorry when he wants them too. Well, Johnny had a horrible life, and Dallas was close to Johnny so it makes sense that he would remember that stuff. Glad you liked it!

Tensleep- I was nominated? Wow! I didn't know until you said something? I wonder who nominated me? But thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm glad you think it's subtle, I didn't want it to be too obvious nor too discreet. Thanks again for telling me that!

CinderBrat- Ya logged in! Yahoo! Sorry, I just guessed on what a 2x4 was. It sounded pipish, but you're probably right. I'll go back and fix it, when I want to, right now I'm too lazy. You love cocker spaniels!?!? I own a cocker spaniel! Yes, they are adorable. I'll send you some pictures of mine if I can find some. My pictures are scattered all over the place.

Beth (Lady B. Padfoot)- Okay, some more Lori in this chapter, but it was still a short chapter. Sorry about that. I think the next one will be longer. Hey, we don't even know if the gang is going to show up at all. Hope you had fun with your friends!

Malara- Aww, darn it! Stupid computer, I love long reviews. But I'm happy you liked the chapter that much to write a long review (even if I never got to see it cries) Have a nice day! That makes me smile every time I write that too!

nighttime writer- Well, it would make for a good story...but on the other hand that would be cruel....but on the other hand how many hoods stay friends with greasers and socs....but on the other hand it is possible to stay friends....but on the other hand it's so tempting.....but on the flip side (vice-presidential debate joke- Edwards said 'on the flip side' when the Republicans are accusing them of always flip-flopping. Sorry, I do that sometimes) Anyway, but on the flip side, I really can't say. Thanks for the review!

Lintucuiel- You're right. Two words always work. Elvish? What's that? Thanks for the review!

steves-girl- Don't worry about it. Thanks for the review. Glad you think it was good. Hey you reviewed twice! Double thank you!

the guest- Cool name. Sounds very self-assured. I am the guest. Well thank you. That is very sweet of you to say that. Peace to you too! And thanks again!

CiCi- I can't wait either!

Okay, well sorry if this chapter wasn't that great, it's not my favorite anyway, but I hope to be able to work on the next chapter this weekend, so maybe you will get an update sooner.

Oh, I found out from Tensleep that I'm nominated for Best Dally in the Wrong Side of the Tracks awards. Thank you to whoever did that! I would like to know so I can thank you properly, but if you want to remain anonymous that's fine too! But everybody cross your fingers!

All right let's review! 128 so far! Keep 'em coming! Have a stupendous day!


	14. Chapter 14

"Hey, good lookin' whaccha got cookin how's about cooking-"

"Is this whole family addicted to Hank Williams?" Dallas sighed. Lori shrugged her shoulders at him.

"You don't like Hank Williams?" Lisa, who had been singing, stopped for a second.

"Of course not," he snorted, "country music hicks, not my idea of entertainment."

"Hicks? Dallas you're crazy."

Lori chimed in, "I think Dallas just needs to listen to more country songs before he makes up his mind."

"No! I've had my share of country to last me a lifetime." He gave a shudder as he thought about all the times Buck had played that music at his place.

"You're in a bad mood, Dallas," Lisa said lightly.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" he responded.

"Don't you know? Tonight's the night Brian and I go to the movies." She let slip a giggle.

"And I'm going out with Trey again. Without threats from you, mister." She pointed accusingly. "You should just be grateful that Trey was willing to come near me ever again after what you did."

"Yeah, I was thinking about going out and celebrating."

Lisa shook her head. "No, you are going to baby-sit Carly with Jason."

Dallas rolled his eyes.

xxxxxxx

"Well, your ribs aren't in as good of a condition as I'd like, but it's good enough."

"That mean I can go home?" Dallas asked as he pulled on his shirt, finished with the examination.

"I'll take you home first thing after church tomorrow," Brian promised.

"Brian, get going. We're going to be late if you don't hurry." Lisa reprimanded her husband from the doorway of Dallas's bedroom.

"We won't be late," he protested, but got up anyway.

Dallas got up and went out into the living room, picked up the paper, and thumbed through the news. Nothing on him again, a little bit about the hoods vandalizing the stores. No names, just descriptions, "one red-haired, two brown-haired, one blonde." That was Cliff's gang all right. He again congratulated himself for his wisdom at refusing the hoods' invitation. Because now he was going home! Home.

"Has anyone seen my jacket?!" Lori asked as she sped through the room. It had stormed earlier in the day, now just a steady drizzle, but still enough for a jacket.

"I haven't," Jason answered from his position on the couch.

"Well can you look?"

Jason groaned.

"You asked for it, man." Dal told him.

"Yeah, I should know by now to never answer those kinds of questions." But he got up and went searching.

_Ding Dong!_

"Trey's here!" Carly eagerly cried.

"Come on people, where's my jacket?" Lori cried again.

"I got it!" Lisa yelled back. The two women ran and met each other in the living room, Lisa giving her daughter a quick peck on the cheek. "Have fun, dear."

Lori nodded and rushed off to meet her date at the door.

Jason walked out of the den and back into the living room. Dallas watched, mystified as Jason bent down and looked under the couch, then the other one.

"Should we tell him?" Carly whispered at Dallas's side.

Dallas vigorously shook his head. _No._

"Okay, I'm ready," Brian announced, stepping into the living considerably more dressed up than he was a few minutes ago.

"All right let's go," Lisa walked out of her office. They picked up their coats off of the back of the couch.

"What are you doing, Jason?"

"Looking for Lori's jacket like she asked me too." He exasperated.

Brian smiled. "Lori already left with her jacket."

Jason stood up, an expression of _you're kidding_ on his face, threw his arms up in the air, and stormed off. Carly gave a giggle.

Lisa clapped her hands. "Okay, Carly you be good. Dallas you and Jason are in charge. You take care of my little girl," she warned with a smile. "Bye!"

"Bye," her husband echoed, making their way out the door.

Carly turned to Dallas as soon as the door had closed. "Okay let's play!"

xxxxx

"She's finally asleep." Jason announced. He stood behind the back of the couch. Slowly he fell face forward and collapsed onto it.

"Is she always like that?" Dallas murmured, sprawled out on the other sofa.

"Naw, she's just excited that you're here."

"Not for long though," Dallas couldn't stop a grin from spreading. He was almost out of this house and back with the gang.

"Oh yeah?"

"After church tomorrow," Dal grimaced at the thought of another day at church. _No matter what, none of the gang is going to learn that Dallas Winston went to church. _

The rumble of a car engine alerted the two boys that somebody was outside. A minute later the door opened.

"Okay Trey, come into the kitchen. I'll take care of you until Dad comes home."

"I'm fine Lori," he protested.

"No, you're not. Get in here." A clatter of footsteps as the two headed for the kitchen.

"What's going on?" Jason bounded off the couch, Dallas behind him. They walked into the kitchen and flicked on the light that Lori and Trey had forgotten.

"Lori?" Which one asked the question no one knew; both were staring at the newcomers in disbelief.

The two were a mess. Lori's face was scratched, her blue jacket had a rip. Trey had a black eye, several bruises, and a mass of cuts on his body, his shirt torn in several places. From the way he was leaning over, his ribs seemed to be hurting him too.

"Lori what happened?"

"Here you are, Trey." She handed him an ice pack which he placed on his eye. "We were going out of the theatre when some guys stopped us. They wanted our money." She shuddered.

"But Trey here, doesn't give them anything. They start fighting. Unfortunately one person can't win against four," she admonished.

"So Lori came jumping in, fists flying everywhere. I think that's what scared them most." Trey took over. "Anyway, another guy in the parking lot saw what was happening and gave us some help. The hoods took off after that."

"What's going on?" Carly came in, rubbing her eyes. She looked questioningly at everybody gathered around the kitchen.

"Nothing, Carly, you should be in bed," Lori answered but with no real authority in her voice as she sat down. Carly wandered over and sleepily raised her arms. Lori obliged and lifted the girl into her lap.

"I can't believe that people would do something like that," Lori wonderingly stated. "Who would do something like that?"

"Hoods," Trey replied.

"Hoods?" Carly was the questioner this time.

"Yeah they're bad guys, bad guys that never stop being bad."

"I still can't believe it. I can't believe it." Lori shuddered all over.

"You okay, Lori?" Jace asked touching her shoulder.

She jumped. "What? Oh, sorry, I guess I'm just a little freaked out right now."

Dallas's eyes narrowed as he heard that, ice blue flashing.

"Well you sure weren't freaked out while they were doing it. You fought like a wildcat; I never knew you could do that," Trey said.

Lori smiled, though still a little cautiously.

"Did you call the police?" Jason inquired.

"What good would that do? It was dark, we could barely see anything. All the police can do is say sorry and we'll try, but that'll get us nothing, and it would just be wasting their time," Trey retorted.

"Still, I'm calling Mr. Roberts." Jason picked up the phone. "Will? Is your dad home? Can he come over here? Some guys tried to get Lori and her date's money. They're a little banged up but nothing too serious. Okay, thanks."

"He'll be right over," Jace announced to the others.

"Oh, good," Lori sighed.

"Did you get a good look at any of them?" Jason questioned.

Trey and Lori each shook their heads. "It was dark," Lori went on, "we could barely see at all."

"Can you remember anything about them?" he pushed.

"Hmm...one was kinda tall, the others shorter...hmm...oh, yeah one of them had blonde hair."

_Blonde hair...Cliff._ Dallas's head snapped up. In an instant, he bolted.

"Dallas!" Jason warned, but too late. Not pausing another second, Jason tore off after him.

"Dallas stop! Are you crazy? Stop!" Jason's shouts were heard but went unheeded by the hood. He ran as fast as his lungs would allow, he splashed through the puddles, not caring they were muddying up his borrowed clothes. He was running toward the gang. He knew the gang's haunts; he had been with them the night of the rodeo.

_I can't believe this. I can't believe this. How could I have been so stupid? _Dallas pounded hard on the pavement. He couldn't believe he had allowed this to happen. His 'friends' had hurt Lori. Lori, a part of the family that had taken him in! His feet pounded the pavement even harder.

"Dallas, stop! Come on, man, quit it!" Jason kept up his yells as he raced to keep up with the faster Dal. So intent were the two of them on their race that they didn't see Carly struggling to keep up behind them.

xxxx

"You!"

Cliff turned at the call and was met with a fist smacked into his mouth, hurled backwards to the ground. Dallas rushed on top of him, and started raining down blows.

"Come on Dallas, stop it!" Jason tried once more to stop him, but it was no use.

"You, you, you!" Dallas couldn't find a suitable word, he finally just settled on letting his fists do the talking. And they did talk. Dallas and Cliff rolled over and over in the deserted lot, much like the lot back in Tulsa. A rage was filling Dallas that he had never felt before, and he let it loose.

But Cliff was a hood, too. He fought savagely back and managed to throw Dallas a few feet away from him. "What's this about?" he asked as they both caught their breath.

Dallas spit out some blood. "You tried to mug Lori, one of the people who have taken me in. You're just going to blow it, and scare that girl to death!"

Cliff denied it. "Man, how was I to know she was one of that family?"

"You met her at the rodeo," Dallas replied incredulously.

Cliff rolled his eyes. "Okay so I met her. But she's a soc. And she was out with some soc boyfriend of hers. She's fair game."

Dallas lunged at him. They tussled even more fiercely, if that was possible; Jason and the gang circled around watching tensely. The only sound was the impact of fist meeting flesh and the ragged breathing of the two adversaries. Carly ran into the lot, and silently she sneaked into the circle to watch the fight.

Dallas got up from the ground dragging Cliff with him. One arm holding, the other giving several quick jabs into the hood's midsection. Cliff collapsed down but was back up a second later. As they struggled, Cliff spoke.

"And besides, they—still—kept their—money, so why are—you so mad?"

Dallas rolled over him and smacked him in the jaw. "Y'all hurt Trey and Lori, and you scared her so bad she's shaking."

"Why—are—you—getting so high and mighty?" A kick into the ribs. "You shouldn't think twice about that. Nathan's right. You are becoming a soc."

Dallas kicked a powerful kick into Cliff's guts. He rolled away from Cliff for a short second to catch his breath. "I am not a soc. But I'd rather be a soc than be like you and scare innocent girls to death," he retorted scathingly.

Cliff smiled. "You forget that you did that yourself. Only last night at the rodeo," he tilted his head. "Or have you forgotten so soon?"

"What?" Carly, in bewilderment, piped up from her little corner. You lie. Dallas wouldn't do that."

"He wouldn't huh?" Cliff asked her.

"No," she turned to Dallas in a pleading gesture. "Dallas, come on. Why you friends with these guys anyway? They're the bad ones."

"We're the bad ones?"

"Yeah you hurt my sister."

"Well, Dallas has hurt plenty of people. He's a bad guy too," Cliff snarled.

"No," she scoffed.

"He's the baddest hood. Taught me everything I know."

"Cliff," Dal warned.

Carly stared at Dallas. She stared at Cliff, then back at Dallas, her confusion evident. She walked over to Dallas.

"You're not a hood are you?" He didn't answer her, didn't look at her. "Hoods are bad people. You can't be one." She took his hand. "Dallas, tell them you're not a hood."

Dallas wrenched his hand away. He leaned forward, took Carly by the shoulders and gave her a shake. "Girl be quiet! I am a hood. Got that? I am a hood." He angrily pushed her away from him.

She stumbled. Carly got up and stared at Dallas, her eyes huge. Then she shook her head. "No," she stated. Carly shook her head again. "No," she emphasized. The shaking grew more distinct, faster, her voice becoming softer: "No, she whispered. All the while she kept staring, transfixed at Dallas.

Suddenly her head stood still. "No!" she yelled. She whirled and raced back up the hill, her body flying through the puddles as fast as she could go. She reached the top of the hill, slipping and sliding along the way.

Dallas watched her go, then viciously turned on Cliff. "You— "

A screech of tires. A scream. All heads turned to the hill Carly had just run up.

As one, Jason and Dallas tore off for the sound. This time Jason was faster than Dallas. Jason disappeared over the hill. "No!" Dallas heard as he made his way up and over.

A car was stopped in the middle of the road. Jason glanced around frantically for his sister. Dallas pointed to a figure down the bottom of the hill. They ran down to it..

"Carly you all right?" Jason asked. They reached her. "She needs a hospital." Jason said as he scooped her still form into his arms.

Dallas stared in shock. _His fault, his fault._

"I'm so sorry, I tried to stop, but she just came out of nowhere," the man in the car apologized over and over again, his face white.

By this time the gang had arrived. Nathan took one look, "I'm outta here," he quickly stated. He took off, his two cronies at his heels.

Cliff stayed, staring in horror at the scene before him. Dallas saw him.

"Get help, Cliff! Hurry!"

Cliff didn't move.

"Cliff get help!"

He twisted his head in the direction his gang had taken. He looked back at Dallas. Slowly he backed up. A couple steps later he turned around and took off.

"Cliff!" Dal angrily turned back to Carly. Jason was holding her: she was unconscious.

"Carly, you'll be all right, Carly. You'll be all right, baby," he kept muttering over and over.

Dallas stared down at the still form. _Johnny. Johnny still and lifeless. Johnny dead. His fault, his fault._

"No," he whispered, shaking his head. "Oh kid. Oh kid, please. Please."

* * *

Okay this chapter's up. And it turns out, that my nomination for Best Dally is the only nomination. So, if I can beat nobody, I'll win! ) Think I can do it?

This reminds me of my real life. A person I know is running for judge in our city, and he won the primaries against a really tough opponent. I mean we barely won. So now all he has to do is beat nobody from the other ticket on the election Nov. 2. Keep your fingers crossed for both of us! )

MissLKid- No strike? Aww, darn it. Oh well.

Joker is Poker with a J- Sorry the eyebrow thing got you messed up. But at least you figured it out. )

Lintucuiel- Aha, that explains it. I've never read or seen Lord of the Rings. I know, everybody looks at me like I'm crazy, but just haven't found the time. Well you can't wait for him to go home, but he might not go home. No one knows.

nighttime writer- Let's see...three, four? I think that's about right. So this story's almost there. Thank you, glad I've been able to spice up these past months for you. ) Thanks for the review.

Tensleep- Glad you liked the chapter. Hey thanks for some more information. Well, it turns out that I'm the only one nominated for Best Dally. So if I can beat nobody I will win. Cross your fingers. ) Hey, good luck on all your nominations! That's incredible!

ER Monkey, Burner of Cookies- You had this Friday off, that counts for something. But I think the spell is broken, whatever it was. Sorry! )

Malara- Malara, Malara, Malara, thank you SO much! Great long review, made my day and my week! Or however long it's been since I've updated. Thank you for all the compliments on the chapter. Well, I must confess, I've never been able to raise on eyebrow! Ticks me off so bad! Man, thank you for all those compliments about the story. They just really inspire me to write. You have a stupendous day! ) ) )

CinderBrat- Aww, you're sick? I hope you're all right. Oh well no wonder. Years do make a difference in the car. ) Okay, I'm a little scared about this chapter, and you are my number one critiquer, so go ahead, critique it all the way, give me your honest opinion. I can handle it. ) Hope you're feeling better!

CiCi- Thank you. Well, Dallas is starting to get some emotional stuff happen to him. Hope you like it!

DaNNi BaBezZz- Good, I thought I was the only crazy one here. You're ready for Christmas too. If there were lessons, you're gonna have to get in line behind me. ) Thanks for the review!

Oblivious Misconception- Yep, he is changing, but at the same time he's still remaining the same. Hope that makes sense! Glad you liked the 'threat.' Thank you for all your kind words!

Okay, I need your reviews. I don't care if you love it or hate it, just review! Thanks and have a great day!


	15. Chapter 15

Cold. Unfeeling. White walls. Dallas listlessly watched the walls, not even mustering enough energy to hate them. They were in the hospital. Lori and Jason were sitting together a few feet from Dallas. Carly...Carly was somewhere, somewhere hidden behind those walls.

_Johnny lying there, struggling for breath, whispering to Pony. Dying. Johnny dead. Dead in a hospital, white walls surrounding him, enclosing him, trapping him. The white walls glaring, mocking, the same walls that now encircled..._

"Carly," Dally whispered softly. Dejectedly, he slumped over, hands thrown in his lap. For several seconds he just sat there, staring at the floor, but not seeing it. A hand reached over then, and took his own. Dallas glanced up to find Lori looking at him. She squeezed his hand, and then kept holding it as she turned back to Jason. Dallas watched them as they bent their heads together and whispered together, their eyes closed tight. It took him several seconds to realize what they were doing.

When he did, he jerked his hand away. Praying. That's what they were doing. Praying. Praying as if God existed and he would actually care about them. If He did care he would have stopped this from happening. The two socs. Naïve little socs. Dallas stood up and walked away. _Praying. _He snorted.

xxxxxx

"Lori? Jason?"

"Daddy!" Lori cried out and flung herself on her dad. She let the tears she had been holding back for forever finally fall. "Oh, Daddy, they haven't told us anything yet. Nothing. I'm so scared."

Brian hugged his daughter back, as Jason and Lisa embraced. They all comforted one another for a few minutes, but finally Brian broke away from Lori.

"I'm going to go find out what's going on." He left with a purpose in his step, relieved that he would be able to do something.

Lisa left Jason and walked over to Dallas. Dal instinctively tensed, waiting for the verbal assault, the _you did this! You're the reason my baby's in the hospital! I hate you! _Maybe a slap on the cheek, or worse. But Lisa did neither. She hugged him. Tightly.

"I'm glad you're hear, Dallas. To help us through this. Thank God you're here." She hugged him even tighter, and kissed him on the cheek. She wrapped one arm around him and led him back over to the waiting couches. Dallas couldn't rebel against her, and he sat down next to the Mathews family. Waiting. It was all he could do. They could pray. He would wait.

xxxxxx

Hours passed, outside, the night turned into day, though the clouds still hung over keeping it dark and dreary. Brian hadn't been able to get any information, even though he worked there. The waiting continued.

People came and went. Will and his father, the preacher, some close friends Dallas didn't know but who had heard the news and had rushed over to offer their comfort no matter how slim it was.

xxxxx

Midday came, still no word. Everybody was getting ancy. All they could do was wait and pray.

xxxxx

"I'm going to try again." Brian muttered, frustrated. He got up and walked off. Just then a doctor came out of the doors. The two of them conversed, the rest of the group watching silently. Finally the doctor left and Brian walked back. Dallas could see it in his step, his face, his eyes.

"Well?" Lisa asked her voice quivering.

He sighed. "It's bad."

"What's bad?" Jason this time.

"She's on a respirator, she can't breathe for herself, flailed chest. Both of her legs are broken, and the doctors had to remove her spleen. You can live without a spleen," he reassured.

"The problem is with her liver. A stellate fracture, and the artery was severely damaged. The doctors are hoping they can repair it." Brian looked away.

"W-What does that mean exactly?" Dallas asked in a perplexed tone. He knew it was bad, but he didn't know how.

Brian swallowed. "It means that if they can't repair it her liver won't function. And a person can't live without a liver." He sighed, and moved over next to his wife.

Dallas stared at Brian, his lips forming words, but nothing coming out. He turned away then.

He left the waiting room; he had to get away from everybody. He found the bathroom and made his way inside. Leaning against the wall, his breath was coming in gasps.

White walls. Johnny rushing into the fire, Johnny dying, Carly running up the hill, white walls, the scream, Johnny struggling for breath, white walls, glaring, mocking, white walls, Carly's limp body...

"Stop!" Dallas cried.

He couldn't take this. He was the cause. The cause of both of them. First Johnny, his best friend, and then Carly...what was Carly? He had tried to convince himself for days that he hated the girl. Yeah, she was annoying at times, but...she had been kinda cute. She had been fun at times.

And now she was dying. _Because of you, _Dal told himself. _Because of me, Dallas Winston._ Dal smacked himself against the wall in anger. That's when he felt the object in his back pocket. His knife. Dally pulled it out. Flicked out the blade. He fingered it, felt its sharpness.

Johnny was dead, Carly was dying, and who was to blame? Him. He had done this. He had sent Johnny to the church, he had pushed Carly away. He didn't deserve to live. He fingered the blade. Johnny's cry in the fire echoed in his ears. Carly's scream bounced off the walls.

He had done this. Johnny was dead, Carly was dying, and he was alive. It wasn't fair. He should be the one dead. He fingered the blade.

But, he would be taking the easy way out. He deserved much more than just a simple cut of the knife. He needed to be tortured, humiliated, at least the Mathews should have the satisfaction of seeing him suffer. He pulled the blade away a few inches.

Johnny dead, Carly close to it, maybe dead already. He brought the blade closer. Johnny's cry for help, Carly's scream. All his fault, all his fault, all his....

"NO!" Dallas flung the knife away. It smashed against the mirror, glass shards flying everywhere, several hitting and embedding themselves in Dallas. Quick as a flash, Dallas was out the door. He ran out the bathroom, out the hospital, trying to get away from his fears, his nightmares. But not succeeding.

Xxxxxx

"Who was that?" Pony asked, worried. Darrel came out of the kitchen, having just hung up the phone.

"Just another reporter," Darry assured him.

But it didn't assure him. "It wasn't Dallas? Then he isn't coming."

"Sure he is."

"No. He's not. He would have called, he would be here by now. It's been past two weeks! It's past two weeks! Dallas ain't coming!"

"Pony calm down!" Darry's sharp voice rang throughout the room.

"No! I won't! He's not coming back! Don't you see that? He's not coming back!" All the pent up emotions inside him from the moment all of this had started now came bubbling forth.

"You don't know that for sure," Darrel softened his voice, hoping to help put Pony at ease.

No such luck. "It's been too long! He hasn't come, he hasn't called, we've heard nothing! He's not coming home! Dallas isn't, Johnny isn't!" The ever emotional Pony was hysterical. "They're not coming home!" With a cry Pony threw himself out the door.

"Pony get back in here! Pony!" He was gone.

* * *

Okay, I would write a little more, but I think I'll save that for the next chapter. I was going to have it in this one, but I think it will work better in the next chapter. (Besides that, I'm too lazy right now.) )

MissLKid- I'm sorry you have a cold. Hope you're feeling better! Dallas leaving to go home....who knows? Well, too bad about the strike. Thanks for the review!

ERMonkey Burner of Cookies- Carly...I don't know. Good stories always kill off people...take The Outsiders for example. ) Well, I wish the spell wasn't broken either. I like making people happy! )

Malara- Isn't funny how much fun being nice can be? Have a great day! It really is fun. I remember being at this event, and I helped out by holding the doors for people. And I and some others would wish them a great night, hope they enjoyed it, come again, and all of them noticed! It was so much fun. Yeah, with his vocabulary (in other stories, I don't think you'll fine one bad word in mine, thank you very much ) I'm also a little sorry for Cliff. Thanks for all the words of encouragement, I hope this story continues to live up to

your expectations. Thanks and have a....., excuse me, an astounding day! )

CinderBrat- Spelled her name right, don't worry! Glad it made you think. I hope there was enough action there. I think you liked action, right? This chapter was really short, hope you didn't mind.

nighttime writer- Aww, fighting with friends is always a bummer, I hope you've worked it out. Friends are special. Well, I'm glad I could help out your day. Thanks for reviewing!

Scarlett7- Hey, don't worry about the reviewing! That's perfectly fine. I mean without you, this story wouldn't be what it is. I got lots and lots of ideas from corresponding with you. Thanks a billion. Thanks!

Banana4422- Thanks! Glad you read it and enjoyed it. Hope you like it!

Ems- Aww, man, you're just too sweet. Thank you ever so much, that really means a lot to me!

Jaws- Of course! Haven't you ever read or watched the movies! Or history even? No matter how evil a person is, and no matter how many hundreds of thousands of people a person kills, the only thing someone remembers is when they kill off the pet dog. Same thing with the little kid. Same as the dog. "Aww, they killed the dog!" "Aww, they killed off the eight-year-old?" Real mature, you're right. )

Tensleep- We'll say that's the reason. I mean, everybody knows that I'm just awesome right? Joking, definitely joking. How'd the cooking experiment go? I'm pretty good. I can open that box and stick it in the oven just like any pro.

Lintuucuiel- I tried to spell your name from memory, and I left off the third u! I'm mad! ( I've updated with the next chapter, but it is extremely short, please don't hurt me! Right now I'm in the midst of the Tom Clancy novels, so if I get a chance I'll try to read LotR. Thanks for reviewing!

Joker is Poker with a J- Hmm, sorry? You haven't seen exactly what happens to Carly yet, sorry. But please don't sue me, I'm not sueable. I never promised that everyone would live and that their would be a happy ending. If you want to sue somebody, sue S.E. Hinton, she started it! ) Seriously, thanks for the review!


	16. Chapter 16

Thump. Thump. Thump. Dallas leaned against the building, one foot kicking lazily at the wall, from time to time. The weather had worsened, the grayness settling from the sky downward. It was cold, but Dallas didn't notice or care.

He stared straight ahead as the side door opened. Footsteps crunched across the grass, and Dal felt a presence lean against the wall next to him.

"Thought I might find you out here."

No response.

"You have the whole family concerned. You've been gone for quite a while."

"Been busy," Dallas finally replied.

"With what?" he asked gently.

"Been thinkin'" Dallas still stared out, gazing at the flat plains stretched out before him. Funny, the landscape had never seemed so desolate before. But there was nothing, just plains, no hills, mountains, just plains that stretched for miles.

"Thinkin," the preacher nodded his head knowingly. "Yeah, most of us have been doing a lot of that lately."

Dal glanced down at his feet. "I'm to blame," he said softly.

The preacher said nothing.

"I was the reason she ran off. I pushed her way," he laughed bitterly.

"You didn't know what would happen," preach countered.

"I should've. I should've known not to stay with them. I shoulda gotten away, away from everybody. I only hurt people," Dallas reached down and picked up a pebble. As if proving his point, he hurled it at the stray cat that was wandering about. The cat scurried off with a "yoww" of annoyance.

"Good aim," the preacher commented.

Dallas smiled slightly.

The preacher studied the boy in front of him curiously. The greaser shifted, feeling the stare. "You only hurt people? All I've seen is a kid who hit a cat, and who _thinks_ he hurt a girl."

The greaser vigorously shook his head even as the preacher finished his sentence. "No," he sighed. "No, I've hurt more. I killed my best friend." Belatedly, Dallas shut his mouth. _Darn it, how could I be so stupid?_

The old man's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't comment.

A voice started speaking, talking about Johnny, the fire, his death, and Dal was shocked to discover it was his own. His voice was different, softer, quieter, and he barely recognized it. The greaser jerked himself to a stop, midsentence...in the hospital room.

"You didn't kill him."

"I left him at the movie, I told him to go to the church, I didn't stop him from going into the fire, I didn't pull him out in time," a voice now bitter with self-loathing and accusation.

"I pushed Carly down, I yelled at her, I made her run off. I killed them both."

"Carly's not dead, Dallas. You have got to keep on believing and praying," the preacher quickly responded, hoping to get Dallas off of his train of thought.

But he turned to the wrong subject. "Pray? You think I should _pray_? To who? That god of yours? Where was that God when Johnny was dying, where was He when Carly was getting run over? Don't talk to me about your God, mister." He jerked off the wall, and strode several feet away.

The preacher just shook his head. "God's everywhere, Dallas." When the greaser said nothing he sighed. "Well, I'm going to pray for Carly."

"You do that." Dallas didn't turn around.

The preacher took the hint, and wearily pushed himself up off the wall he had been leaning against, and lugged his body back to the doorway. There he paused, and turned around. "I'm going to pray for Carly. Carly has the Lord as her Savior; I know, I baptized her last year. I'll pray for her, Dallas, but I'm going to pray for you. Right now, you need the prayers more than she does."

Dallas didn't move. Didn't move after the door had swung back after the preacher went back inside. Didn't move for a long time.

xxxxxx

Pony wandered the streets, alternately kicking the soda cans and just plain shuffling his feet. He was annoyed at himself. _Darry's gonna skin me alive for this one._

He had run off again. Just after what had happened with him and Johnny, he had still run off. Pony was smart enough to realize the idiocy of his actions.

But, he still didn't want to go back. Not yet. Something was still driving him on, not wanting him to go home and face his brother's wrath just yet.

He shuffled on, staring at his feet. So it was a surprise to him when he looked up and found a wall directly in front of his nose.

It was the side of a building. Looked kinda familiar, too. Ponboy walked around to the front. The sign on the front nearly made him jump.

He couldn't believe it. He was at the church he and Johnny used to go to. How in the world did he come to end up here? He hadn't been to the church for quite a while. Curiosity overcame him. He wanted to know what if it was still as he remembered it, even though it hadn't been that long. But in his grief-stricken mind, anything before Johnny's death was ages ago, another lifetime. Before he knew it he had opened the doors and slipped inside.

Pony slipped into the back pew, hidden by the shadows. Nobody was around. He sat silently in the dark, with an odd feeling of déjà vu. He had sat in this exact pew for who knew how many times with Johnny. Sitting and listening quietly to the preacher preach his sermon. Getting up and singing the songs as happily and unobtrusively as any other church goer there. That was, until they had brought Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit along. What a mistake that had been. For the first time since that event had happened, Pony gave a little smile.

The smile faded fast. He didn't know why he had come in here. Johnny was gone, and this place just brought back too many memories. The two of them sitting here, the one time that they could forget about being greasers, at least halfway forget. Then later, the times when they were alone and the two of them had pondered the sermon's meaning. Johnny had been the only one Pony could really talk to.

And now Johnny was gone. And Dallas was gone! It wasn't fair! Life wasn't fair! Pony punched the pew in front of him in frustration, the force of which picked the pew up several inches and then it dropped down with a thud. The sound reverberated throughout the chapel.

Pony jerked back, ashamed of his actions. This was a church, he shouldn't be messing with anything, he shouldn't even be in here. He got up to examine the pew, hoping he hadn't hurt it. He glanced down into the pew, and it was then he saw the book lying there. The Bible. He took his hand, and reverently traced the gold lettering with his finger.

His finger finished tracing, but remained poised in midair. Slowly he lifted it up to the back of the wooden bench. His finger started to trace letters, as if by its own accords. His finger slowly, agonizingly traced the letters, _D_...._a_...._l_...._l_...._a_....

Pony stopped. _Lord, please. Palllease._ He hadn't prayed for a long time. _Lord, help him. Bring him home. The gang needs him. I need him. He needs us. Please, please. _His mouth moved silently with the words, and he continued to repeat the phrase over and over again. _Please, Lord, please_. He whispered it. "Please." He looked back down, and finally traced the last letter. ...._s._

"Please."

xxxxxx

Man, guys, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this long break between updates. But oh well. Just a couple more chapters to go though.

MissLKid- You know something really strange? I finished writing that last chapter late at night, and then that night, I dreamed that you were the first person to review. And then the next morning, got up, looked at my e-mails, and there was your review, first one! Weird, huh? Hope by now your cold is okay!

Banana4422- Still no word on Carly. Sorry. Stay tuned for next chapter, you'll get to see Carly's death scene, ahemm, ahemm, I mean... well, just stay tuned. )

ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies- Ooh, I know what you mean. Last Friday, all of my hometown high schools had games going on, two of our schools competing against each other. The entire town was deserted, all out at the football fields. Sorry again about the long stretch between chappies.

Scarlett7- Little scary last chapter you just put up! Can't wait to read about that visitor. Thanks for all the support, you've really helped me with this story. Glad you liked that chapter. See ya later!

nighttime writer- Hey, speaking terms is still better than no speaking terms.

Tensleep- Thanks for those compliments. And hey, you didn't promise your brothers good food right, just food. So they shouldn't complain. If they want good food, tell them to make it themselves. )

Cinderbrat- Aww, I don't care about your login. Hey, hey, they didn't murder a kid, it was self-defense. I mean come on, we're supposed to be on Johnny's and Pony's side. You don't say they murdered Bob. )

steves-girl- Thanks for all three reviews. Glad you like it so far. Yeah, you're not the author, that's true, but I do listen to my reviewers, that's where I've gotten some of my ideas for this story! But the ending is already set in my mind, so if someone dies, they die. Nothing can change that. Sorry. Thanks for the review! )

Oh, congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for their lift of the curse. My condolences to any Cardinal fans, I feel for you. I must confess that I was rooting for the Cardinals, mainly because I wanted the Sox to lose until the 100th anniversary of the Curse of the Bambino. But, a lunar eclipse, I guess I can accept that. And I think, around 86 years since the last World Series win? Close enough.

Oooh, I am going to be nervous tonight. If you don't know why, you obviously haven't been listening to the news. ) I'm praying my guy wins. He has to win.

Well, I just realized that I did not end the last chapter! I'm so sorry. So I'll do it twice.

Please read and review, people. Have a great day!

Please read and review, people. And have an awesome day, or night, whichever!


	17. Chapter 17

"How ya feeling?" Lori asked.

"Tired."

She smiled. "I'll bet."

"How long have I been here?"

Brian answered. "A couple of days, sweetie."

"Really?"

"Oh, I just can't get over it." Lisa, teary eyed, reached down for probably the sixth hug in less than five minutes.

"Momma," Carly complained, but there was a grin on her face as she said it. She was finally out of danger. Her liver was stabilized and functioning. She was fine, except of course for the two broken legs, five bones total from that, her right wrist broken from trying to catch herself as she fell, and several broken ribs. Not to mention the bruises and scratches. But she was alive. And that was enough.

"Hey, kiddo," Jason leaned forward after several heart warm minutes had gone by. "Dallas is outside, and he"

"I don't want to see him." Carly's curt voice cut him off.

"Carly," Jason intoned, "he really wants to see you."

"I don't want to see him," she repeated, staring at an invisible speck on the wall.

Jason sighed, but acquiesced to the little girl. Lori shrugged her shoulders in helplessness as his gaze drove into her.

Outside the door, hidden from view, Dallas Winston stood. He heard Jason make the offer, and he heard Carly's flat refusal. He took a slow, ragged breath. He exhaled, and walked away quickly, making sure no one could see him as he fought to control…

..everything.

xxxxx

"Pony! Where have you been?" Darry exploded the moment he walked through the door. Pony leaned exhaustedly against the doorframe. He didn't want to go through this again.

"I'm sorry, Darry, but I just had to get out for a while."

Darry stopped his tongue lashing in surprise. Pony had…apologized? That happened very little, and it was shocking enough to give him pause. Darrel squeezed his fist as he struggled to control his temper. After a minute he was calm. Well, calmer.

"All right, I understand. I understand your need to get out. But let's stop the running off. Okay? You've already gotten in enough trouble, let's not add onto it."

Guardedly Ponyboy nodded his head in agreement. Was this Darry talking? Darry, the one who always blew up at him?

"All right Pony, I think you need to go to your room. We'll talk more about this tomorrow."

Pony quietly did as he was told. When he was almost there, however, he turned around. "Darry?" he asked. "Have you heard anything from Dallas?"

Darry straightened from where he had been picking up the discarded newspaper. Ponyboy read his expression: _Here we go again._

"No, I just want to know. I'm not going to go tearing out of here. I just wanna know. Really."

"Pony…" Darrel watched his brother's face fall. Quickly he walked over to the boy and gripped him gently by the shoulders. "Pony. No matter what happens, no matter if Dallas does come back or not, you have to move on. Okay Pone? You have to move on."

"I know, Darry."

xxxxxx

"Hey, there you are."

Jason came into the waiting room, and sat next to Dallas. Lori sat on the chair opposite. Dal didn't acknowledge their entrance, but they were too worried about what they were going to say to notice.

"Hey, Dallas, um, well, Carly's doing fine, real fine." Jason looked down at his hands. Deep breath, then, "Well, she just, she just doesn't want to see you, Dallas."

Dallas turned his head away.

"Now she's going to change her mind. You'll see Dallas. She's a little confused right now, that's all."

Dallas answered, his head still turned away. "No, she hates me."

"Naw, man, she doesn't hate you. She's just not-"

"Jason, stop it!"

Dallas and Jason both glanced in surprise at Lori, who had risen from her chair.

"I mean it, Jason. Stop defending him! Carly has every right to hate him!"

"Lori!" Jason exclaimed, astounded by his sister's outburst. "How can you say that? Carly doesn't have a right to hate him."

"She does too!" Lori's green eyes flashed. "He's the reason Carly's hurt!"

"It was an accident. An accident with a car, not Dallas!" Jason defended.

"Dallas made her run. He went tearing after those hoods- and he's a friend of theirs! I can't believe you," she wrenched her gaze over to Dallas. "You should have told us," her voice accusing, "you should have told us you were friends with those…aahh," she grimaced, "At least you should have admitted to being a hood."

Lori paced away, but swiveled around when she saw the two boys exchange glances. "Jason? You knew, didn't you?" Jason's silence was all the confirmation she needed. "You knew that Dallas knew those..freaks!"

"They're not freaks," Dallas finally spoke up. "They're hoods, that's all they are. Don't go blasting off at them like they're nothing. They're people, same as you." The girl was sounding like a soc!

"Like me? You think that I would rob people and attack them? They did that to me. They came at me and Trey. You know how scary that is?" Her voice broke on the last couple of words. She struggled visibly to control her tears. When she spoke again, her voice was dead calm.

"And I bet you've done it too, haven't you, Dallas? You've probably robbed people and never given it a second thought. But you have no idea how it is to be on the other end. Well I'll tell you right now. You never want to be on that other side. It hurts." She stated the last in a sharp, cutting voice. She didn't wait around for a response from Dallas; she spun on her heel and stormed out.

Dallas stood as she left. He took a few steps toward the door, but stopped short of the doorway. He walked to side seemingly in a daze. He turned back to Jason. "She's wrong. It's not…I'm not…I mean…" his hands whirled through the air as he groped for the words.

"I mean, she's right. She's right. I never thought about it before, being on the other side. Guess it is scary."

Jason nodded. "Yeah, when I was with you and those guys, your friends, came at us, I was scared stiff."

"You? But you were so calm and cool."

"Just instinct. That's the only reason Lori fought them, too. She was probably terrified, but instinct kicked in." Jason paused for a moment. "Have you ever done it?" He didn't need to say what it was.

"Yes."

Jason merely nodded his head in understanding. There was no judgment in the expression, but it still cut through Dallas like a knife.

Dal collapsed in the chair Lori had vacated. "I'm sorry for all this. I stayed friends with those creeps, even after they you told me not to and then they did that to Lori." He ran his hands through his hair. In a whisper, "Sorry for what happened to Carly."

Uncomfortable Jason tried to reassure, "It's all right."

"It's not all right. I've jumped people thousands of times just like Cliff did to Lori. I put a little girl in the hospital. And now she's so scared and angry at me that she doesn't want to ever see me again. Aww, I'm so sorry." He buried his face in his hands.

"I'm so sorry. I feel so awful. Can you ever forgive me, Jace?"

"It's not my forgiveness you should be wanting, Dallas," the boy replied gently. "The only way you can ever truly get rid of your guilt and find some peace is to confess it to the Lord."

"I don't believe in that God," Dallas's response was muffled through his arms.

"It's the only way you'll come to terms with Carly's accident…and that Johnny's death."

Dallas's head shot up. And for the first time in sight of others, Dallas's eyes glistened. His blue eyes grew brighter; a droplet trekked its way down his cheek and splashed on his hand. Winston's eyes traveled down to his hand. "Johnny," his voice quivered.

_Johnny screaming in the fire. His fault._

_Carly yelling at Dallas to stay away from her. His fault._

_Johnny dying in the hospital. His fault._

_Carly collapsed like a rag doll on the ground. Fault._

_Johnny dying._

_Carly collapsing._

_Johnny._

_Carly._

_Dying._

_Collapsing._

_Peace._

_The only way._

_Dying._

_Johnny screaming._

_Carly backing away from Dallas._

_Only way._

_His fault._

_Carly collapsing._

_Johnny dying._

"Johnny."

_The only way._

_His fault._

_The only way._

"God."

"God."

"Help me."

A sob tore through his body. He whispered a prayer that even he didn't understand the words he muttered, but the meaning was clear. He felt a hand on his shoulder; that was when he realized he was on his knees. Jason was kneeling next to him, gripping his shoulder as he prayed with Dallas.

They stayed that way for several minutes, all alone with themselves and the Lord. Finally Dallas looked up, wonder in his expression.

"I feel so…different. Like a big load's gone. Just like that," he said in amazement.

"You did it Dallas. You did it."

"Yeah," Dallas said softly, his expression filling with happiness as realization struck. "I did it. He did it. God did it." He smiled.

xxxxx

The hospital door opened. A man appeared, in crisp blue jeans, and an ironed white shirt. The man searched the room, and finally found the object he was looking for. He wandered over to the end of the room where the brown-haired girl was standing.

"Ahemm." He cleared his throat.

The girl turned, and gasped in shock. Involuntarily she jerked back. "What are you doing here?" she snarled out.

Cliff dug his hands into his pockets. "I was wondering how the little girl was doing," he said quietly.

"She's alive," Lori spat out, as she looked around for an ally in the room and finding none.

"That's good." Cliff couldn't find anything else to say.

"And I guess I have you to thank for that," Lori's voice had everything in it but that, "because after all if you hadn't come and gotten us when you did, she probably wouldn't have made it." Her voice softened a fragment, but only a fragment, as she realized what she was saying.

The hood shifted from one foot to the other, seemingly enthralled by the dirty speck on the floor. "That's good," he repeated.

"Now if you don't want the police on ya right now, I suggest you get out the same you got in here." Lori whirled around, trying to control her instinctive fear and hatred as much as possible.

"Yes ma'am." He circled around, but paused, and circled back. "Look, ma'am, for what it's worth, I wouldn't have done it if I had known it was you."

Lori's green eyes coolly surveyed the young man before her. "Should that matter?"

The hood lowered his eyes as red crept up his cheeks. Lori saw the red and recognized it for what it was, even though she didn't believe it. Shame.

Cliff rubbed the side of his nose, a nervous habit. "Well, I just wanted to know about the girl. I'll be going now." He looked her in the eyes again. "I am sorry."

Lori watched him leave, but instead of the satisfaction she thought she would have felt at putting him in his place, she only felt emptiness. Only emptiness. Lori rolled her eyes at what she was about to do.

She strode briskly to the door before she could change her mind and pulled it open. "Hey mister." The hood was just about to start off down the block. He looked up in surprise.

"Cliff," he told her.

"Cliff. Well," Lori paused for a second, and swallowed, "well, you did help save my sister's life. What I'm trying.. trying to say-"

"No," Cliff interrupted her. "You have no need to say anything. That was nothing, I shouldn't have-"

"It was something," Lori spoke again. "It was. But now I need to get over what's happened to me right now…or there's no way I'm ever going to get over it. So…thanks for my sister.."

He dipped his head in acknowledgment, a slow nod.

Lori swiveled to look back at the door. "I'm kind of thirsty. It's been a hectic day," here Cliff gave a little smile, "you want a cup of coffee with me?"

The hood glanced at her in surprise, as if to say, _Who me?_ But then he dipped his head again. "Yes, ma'am. I would very much like to."

xxxxx

_Tap tap._

"Come in," Carly called without glancing up from the book she was reading.

The doorknob turned, and the person made his way to the foot of her bed. She tilted her head up, and leaned warily back when she saw who it was.

"Can we talk?" Dallas asked her gently.

Carly measured him for a second, glanced at the door, willing somebody else to enter. But no one came. Cautiously she nodded. Dallas took a seat, and right then and there he poured out his apology.

xxxxxx

"Hello Lisa, Brian."

"Good morning, Will," Lisa replied. She had a cup of coffee in her hand.

"I heard Carly was better."

The door opened up behind them, and Lori and Cliff entered to get their own cups of coffee from the machine.

"Yes sirree," Brian grinned.

"Well, I'm so glad for you, but that's not exactly what I came for."

"Oh?"

"No, see I've been running some checks on some people, and a couple of days ago I got an answer. But it didn't feel like the right time, so I waited. But I have to tell you."

"Well, spit it out," Lisa encouraged him.

Roberts sighed. "It's about the kid you've been taking care of. He's what people nowadays call a hood."

"We know that."

"Yeah, but you don't know he's wanted for robbery."

The couple drew in deep breaths. Off to the side, Lori and Cliff exchanged meaningful glances. Cliff nodded his answer to the question in Lori's eyes. Here was a way he could repay her for all the hurt he had caused.

Roberts continued, "Winston first told me his name was Mathews and that he was a nephew of yours. But that Mathews didn't fit Winston's description. So I did some more checking, and it turned out Mathews was a friend of his."

Brian turned to his friend. "So I guess you want him?" he stated bluntly.

"Yeah, I'm going to take him into custody now. Waited long enough. Know where he is?"

"No, I haven't seen him for a while."

"Lisa?"

"I haven't seen him ever since I went in to see Carly. But I think Lori might have seen him. Lori?"

The three adults turned to Lori, who was standing by the coffee machine. She looked up. "Oh, did you say something?"

"Have you seen Dallas?"

"Not recently."

"Any idea where he is?"

She shrugged her shoulders noncommittally.

All of them left to go in search of Dallas, Lori trailing along behind. After a while they made their way to Carly's hospital room. There they asked Carly the same question. And Carly, with a total blank expression, told them she had no idea where Dally was. Lori was the only one who saw the crossed right index and middle finger.

xxxxxx

The car pulled up to the curb, slowly and quietly. Dallas sat in the passenger seat, staring stonily at the stereo system.

Jason caught the stare, and grinned. "Okay, okay," he said and flicked off the radio that was playing the second rendition of _Hey, Good Lookin'_.

"Thank you." Dallas unbuckled his seat belt (Jason had insisted) and opened his door.

"Wait." Jason reached into his back pocket and slapped the object into Dallas's palm. Dallas opened his fist. It was Two-Bit's blade. He had completely forgotten.

"Preacher gave it to me. Found it when he was in the restroom. Seemed to figure it was yours."

Dallas smiled gratefully. He got out of the car, and stepped out onto the curb.

"Dallas, wait." Jason stepped out of the car. "Got something for you." He handed Dal an envelope.

Winston slit it open, and took out a check. "What's this?"

"Your payment for all the hours you worked in Mom's store. She said you did a great job."

"But this is too much. I could never have earned that much." Dallas protested.

Jason waved the comment away as he leaned against the car. "Well, you're gonna need a good lawyer." He gave a knowing grin.

"Guess I'm gonna." Dal smiled back.

"Anyway, it should help."

"Thank you."

There was silence. Dallas stared at the Curtis house, but he didn't want to go. Not yet. But they couldn't stop the inevitable.

"Well, Jason, have a safe trip back."

"I will."

The pleasantries had been said, but still they stood. And stood, each shifting their gaze around the street. Finally Dallas knew it was time.

"Look Jason, I better get going. Man, thanks. Thanks for everything. You and your family…were what I needed. You-" Dal swallowed. "Thanks. You brought me to God, and I found a peace I never thought I would have." _Looks like I'll be joining Pony in the church going thing._

"Take care of yourself, Dallas." The soc held out his hand, and the hood heartily accepted it. "You know you're always welcome back. Anytime."

"I'll visit as soon as I can." Dallas smiled. They both knew.

"See ya later, Jason."

"See ya. Stay out of trouble."

Dallas grinned. He opened the swinging gate, closed it, then walked up the steps. He reached the door. He paused, gathered his strength, and pushed open the door.

"Dallas!" Instantly a chorus of voices echoed the cry. Dallas yelled back, "Steve! Pony! Two-Bit!" in turn. To which Two-Bit immediately asked the question:

"Boy, you better have my blade, or you can just git yourself back to wherever you came from." Peals of laughter echoed this statement. Cries from Soda and Darry entered the fracas a moment later.

Outside, Jason chuckled as the voices carried down to the curb. After a moment, he opened his door. He flicked on the motor, he let it idle for a moment. The cries still poured out through the half open door. Jason put the car in gear and drove off, leaving no trace behind as he left the street, and then the city. Not a trace behind, except in the heart of one certain hood. Jason smiled and muttered a prayer, as he headed off through the interstate, the glittering twilight deepening into a certain night. He flicked on the radio.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well, that's the end. Gosh, how long has it been? It took a while to get this one up, but it's hard letting go of something. But now it's finished. Whew.

nighttime writer- Thanks for reviewing all those chapters. They all meant a lot. Hope your report went all right! Hope you enjoy this last chapter!

MissLKid- I didn't have another dream about you. Sorry. How's your cold…now? ) I hope it's better. Thanks for all the reviews. Love 'em!

ERMonkey, Burner of Cookies- I don't know what you would characterize this chapter as being. Hopeful? Well, hope you like hopeful as well as depressing. The two are so alike!

Lintucuiel- Thanks for reviewing, no matter how short they were I appreciated every one. Hope you like it.

Oblivious Misconception- Well, you were right! I'm sorry if it offends anybody, but I don't think a family can change a person that much unless they had Him to help them. I just don't think it's possible. Scene in a movie? Thanks. You know, that's what I always try to aspire to. I try to make the story seem like a movie in your head. Those are always the best books. For me at least. Anyway, thanks for all the long reviews! They were always fun to read. I hope you had as much fun writing them!

Cinderbrat- Yeah, everyone is right. I hope this chapter's okay. I take your opinion very seriously. You are one of my best critiquers. (My computer is still telling me that

critiquer is not a word!) Anyway, thanks for all the help you gave me. I really needed it. Hope I can have you there to help when I write another story (which might be a little bit). Thanks again!

Scarlett7- Thank you so much for helping me get started with this story. You really inspired and motivated me, and gave me some really great ideas for the story. Thanks. And sorry, I forgot about the cat thing. No no, I remembered. I just wanted you to get a little annoyed at him. Yeah, that's it. It was all planned. Well, hope it didn't offend you too much! Thanks again! And good luck with the rest of your story. I'll try to review more often, because I'm still keep up with you story. Great so far! And destined to get greater!

Sully- So you agree with me about the Sox? Cool. Well, I hope you didn't cry because it was a long time between updates. Thanks for your review, please tell me what you think of this chapter!

Jessie13- Don't worry about it. I have trouble myself keeping faithful to my favorite authors. I always mean to review, and then I just can't find the time. Thanks for all your encouragement. Thank you for putting my on your favorites list. I can't tell you how much that means to me!

Tensleep- Yeah, I do incorporate a lot of God into this story. Just what I wanted to do for this story. You're right; he is wanted both places. Tough decision, but really it wasn't a decision. He had to go back to his real family, and help them. The Mathews had their own little niche within themselves. The gang had to have Dallas. Give my brother's my condolences. (I like the Astros too.) But just remember, you always want the guy you lose to to win the entire thing. Then you can walk around and say my team only lost to the best team in the entire world! Well, about politics, all I'll say is I'm very happy right now. ) Thanks for reviewing I think every single chapter. That is amazing! Thank you so much!

steves-girl- Thanks for reviewing all the chapters too. You are awesome! I haven't even done that to any single story yet! Man! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Goldengreaser- Well, thanks for reviewing this story. I'm glad you've enjoyed it. Well, the Mathews aren't related to Two-Bit, I just kind of goofed when I was figuring out a name to call these people. I stink at names.

Beth- Thanks for all the reviews and all the e-mails. It's been such fun! You've really motivated me and kept me going with this story. I have to thank you probably most of all. So thanks, and let me know what you think about this chapter! )

Okay guys, I want to thank you again, both reviewers and non-reviewers. I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed creating it.

I don't know for certain what I'll do about responding to the last reviews. I know fanfic doesn't like authors posting chapters full of reviews. So please leave me your e-mail address so that I can respond to you properly. If you don't, I'll just post replies at the end of the first posting of my next story.

My next story will most definitely not be until the end of this year. At the very least sometime in January. I have some ideas, but they still need some tweaking.

And some people have asked if I'd planned a sequel to this. My answer is no, I had planned for this to stand by itself. But, I will leave that up to the fans. If enough of you push for a sequel, I will do one, unless I feel that it is going to hurt the story rather than help it. But if you guys want a sequel, I'll be happy to do one, I just never planned on there being one.

A late Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, and Happy November 25, 2004 for everybody else!

And Merry Christmas to everybody! It's almost here! ) ) Yeaaaaa!

So thank you for reading this story. And please drop a review. Even if you have never reviewed before, I want to know what you think! Even if you hate it, still send a review! I'll still love it! So, I think I've said everything. Thank you again for taking the time to read On the Run. It's been a wonderful experience, I hope you have enjoyed it also, and once again, have a great day!


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